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Wace, Henry, 1836-1924. 
The foundations Operating 








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THE 


BAMPTON LECTURES 


FOR M.DCCC.LXXIX. 


a 2 


By the same Author. 


CHRISTIANITY AND MORALITY, 


OR 


THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE GOSPEL 
WITH 


THE MORAL NATURE OF MAN. 
THE BOYLE LECTURES FOR 1874 AND 1875. 


Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 


PickERING & Co., London. 


THE 


FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH 


CONSIDERED IN 


EIGHT SERMONS 


PREACHED BEFORE 


THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 


IN THE YEAR M.DCCC.LXXIxX 


AT THE LECTURE 


FOUNDED BY JOHN BAMPTON M.A. 


CANON OF SALISBURY 


BY 


HENRY “WACE M.A. 


CHAPLAIN OF LINCOLN’S INN 
PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN KING’S COLLEGE LONDON 


ew Pork 
EP, DUTTON & CO. 713: BRroapway 


1880 


‘For Iam not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the Power 
of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, 
and also to the Greek. 

‘For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to 
Faith: as it is written, The Just shall live by Faith’—The Epistle of 


St. Paul to the Romans, ch. i. vv. 16, 17. 


INSCRIBED TO 


THE REV. CHARLES HOLE B.A. 


LECTURER ON ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN KING’S COLLEGE LONDON 


AS A TOKEN 


OF GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION 





EXTRACT 
FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
OF THE LATE 


REV. JOHN BAMPTON, 


CANON OF SALISBURY. 





“T give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to the 
“Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of 
“ Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the 
“said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents and 
“ purposes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will and 
“ appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ox- 
ford for the time being shall take and receive all the rents, 
‘issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, 
“and necessary deductions made) that he pay all the re- 
*‘ mainder to the endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Ser- 
“ mons, to be established for ever in the said University, and 
to be performed in the manner following: 


“TI direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in 
“ Haster Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads 
‘ of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining 
“to the Printing-House, between the hours of ten in the 
* morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity 
“‘ Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary’s in Ox- 
ford, between the commencement of the last month in Lent 
“ Term, and the end of the third week in Act Term. 


x EXTRACT FROM CANON BAMPTON’S WILL. 


‘ Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity Lecture 
‘¢ Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following Sub- 
“ yects—to confirm and establish the Christian Faith, and to 
‘ confute all heretics and schismatics—upon the divine au- 
“ thority of the holy Scriptures—upon the authority of the 
“ writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the faith and prac- 
“ tice of the primitive Church—upon the Divinity of our Lord 
‘‘and Saviour Jesus Christ—upon the Divinity of the Holy 
‘“‘ Ghost—upon the Articles of the Christian Faith, as compre- 
“ hended in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. 

Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lec- 
‘ture Sermons shall be always printed, within two months 
‘“‘ after they are preached ; and one copy shall be given to the 
“ Chancellor of the University, and one copy to the Head of 
“ every College, and one copy to the Mayor of the city of 
‘“‘ Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; 
‘and the expense of printing them shall be paid out of the 
“revenue of the Land or Estates given for establishing the 
** Divinity Lecture Sermons; and the Preacher shall not be 
“paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are 
“ printed. 

“ Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be quali- 
“ fied to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless he hath 
“ taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the 
‘two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge; and that the 
“ same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Ser- 
‘« mons twice.” 


PREFACE. 


THERE are two general purposes towards which at- 
tempts ‘to confirm and establish the Christian Faith’ 
may be directed. The one is to show that the truths 
and facts it reveals are consistent with the conclusions 
of Reason and Science. The other is to assert the positive 
grounds on which our Faith rests, and to enforce its 
authority. The latter is the purpose which the present 
course of Lectures is designed to serve. It appeared to 
the author that such an attempt was peculiarly neces- 
sary at the present day. In consequence of the pro- 
minence of scientific habits of thought, there is grave 
danger of insufficient weight being allowed to the dis- 
tinct and independent claims of the principle of Faith. 
But it is to Faith that the message of the Gospel is 
primarily addressed, and upon its vitality the life of the 
Church chiefly depends. The author has accordingly en- 
deavoured to illustrate the necessity and supremacy of 
this principle of our nature, and to vindicate its opera- 
tion in those successive acts of Faith by which the Christian 
Creed, as confessed by the Reformed Church of England, 
has been constructed. He has endeavoured to exhibit 
the chief realities of spiritual experience to which that 


Xi Preface. 


Creed appeals, under the conviction that in proportion 
as these great facts of life and history are apprehended 
and kept in view will the authority of our Faith be esta- 
blished. The present work, therefore, is not, properly 
speaking, of an apologetic character. It is an attempt to 
exhibit, in some measure, the supreme claim of the Gospel 
upon our allegiance; and it endeavours to show, not 
merely that the Christian Creed may reasonably be be- 
lieved, but that we are under a paramount obligation to 
submit to it. | 

In the later Lectures the argument requires reference 
to sources not readily accessible to general readers, such 
as the writings of some of the chief Fathers of the Church 
and the earlier Latin works of Luther. The author has 
consequently endeavoured to consult the convenience of 
such readers by quoting, in the Notes, passages of suffi- 
cient length to justify and illustrate his statements; and 
with the same view he has printed English translations 
side by side with the original text. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE L 
THE OFFICE OF FAITH. 


HEBREWS XI. I, 2. 


Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. . p. 1 


LECTURE IL 
THE FAITH OF THE CONSCIENCE. 


Romans I. 28. 


And even as they did not like to retain God in ther knowledge, 
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which 
are not convenient. . ; ; : : p. 27 


LECTURE III. 
THE WITNESS TO REVELATION. 


HEBREWS I. I, 2. 


God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time 
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken 
unto us by His Son . : ; he tse P- 55 


X1V Contents. 


LECTURE IV. 
THE FAITH OF THE OLD COVENANT. 


ISAIAH XLII. 5, 6. 


Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched 
them out ; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh 
out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and 
spirit to them that walk therein: I the Lord have called thee in 
righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee. p. 82 


LECTURE V. 
OUR LORD'S DEMAND FOR FAITH. 


St. MATTHEW XI. 25-27. 


At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord 
of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the 
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, 
Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are 
delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, 
but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the 
Son and he to whomsover the Son will reveal Him. .  p. Itt 


LECTURE VL. 
THE FAITH OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 


ACTS V. 29-32. 


Then Peter and the other Apostles answered and said, We ought to 
obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up 
Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God 
exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for 
to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are 
His witnesses of these things ; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom 
God hath given to them that obey Him. ; Dake 


Contents. XV 


LECTURE VIL 


THE FAITH OF THE REFORMATION. 


RoMANS VIII. 15. 


For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but 
ye have received the Spirit of adoption, RG we cry, Abba, 
Father. . ; : : : : ee RTOS 


LECTURE VIII. 
THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 


EPHESIANS IV. 13-15. 


Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of 
the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature 
of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, 
tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, 
by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in 
wait to deceive ; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into 
Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the 
whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every 
joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure 
of every part, maketh increase of the ae unto the edifying of itself 
in love. . : Se arag 


APPENDIX, containing NoTEs AND ILLUSTRATIONS . wee 225 





LECTURE I. 


THE OFFICE OF FAITH. 


HEBREWS xi. 1, 2. 


Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen. Lor by it the elders obtained a good report. 


‘THESE words, without amounting to a definition 
of faith, express its most striking characteristic in 
practice—its power of giving a substantial reality 
to the objects of hope, and a verification to the 
invisible. It must be felt by every one with what 
truth and vividness they describe the spiritual life of 
the Jewish people, and the animating principle of 
the saints of the Old Testament. It was a life based 
on the invisible, and directed towards an obscure and 
improbable future. But that invisible world was 
more real to the elders of Israel than any of the 
visible things around them, and that future was 
more certain than that the sun and moon would 
fulfil their ordinary course. The course of nature, 
indeed, had been interfered with again and again in 
their behalf. For them the earth had been shaken, 
the sea had fled, the heavens had been darkened. 
To their view no physical order was unalterable, 
B 


2 The Office of Faith. _[Lecr. 


and the external world could be moulded at any 
moment to the purposes of the divine will. Though 
flesh and heart failed them, though the earth was 
moved and the mountains were carried into the 
midst of the sea, the Lord of hosts was with them 
and the God of Jacob was their refuge. On Him 
they lavished a passion of love, of devotion, of trust, 
such as is only evoked by those intense affections, 
under which everything in the world fades and 
becomes insignificant in comparison with one beloved 
person. As the visible was thus eclipsed by the in- 
visible, so was the present by the future. Few in 
number, despised, conquered, exiled, crushed, the 
Jews grasped with unshaken tenacity the assurance 
that they were reserved for a glorious destiny; and 
in their darkest hours they never doubted that the 
Messiah would appear to deliver them, and to assert 
His absolute sway. Their literature was prophecy, 
and their very history embodied the types of the 
future. And all this was founded on simple faith. 
They had received certain promises, handed down to 
them from the fathers of their race; and on those 
sacred words, few and fragile as they must have 
seemed to other eyes, they rested the whole edifice 
of their spiritual, their moral, and even of their 
physical life. 

The history of the Christian Church has been of 
precisely similar character. Its foundations were laid 
in an exercise of the same faculty—the assurance of 
things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 


I.] The Office of Fath. 3 


Its expectations have been at once more distant and 
more near than those of the Jewish elders—more 
distant, because more and more disengaged, as time 
went on, from the hope of an immediate return of 
our Lord in power; more near, because illuminated 
from the first with a clearer vision of life and immor- 
tality beyond the grave. But the prophetical element 
in the New Testament is perhaps still stronger than 
in the Old. The parables of our Lord constitute a 
series of prophecies respecting the fate of the Jewish 
nation, and the development of His Church. They 
have since been marvellously verified, but in the 
early days of Christianity they made an immense 
demand on the faith of His followers. The Epistles 
of St. Paul are similarly instinct with prophecy. If 
he applies the axe to the root of the ancient Jewish 
polity, he is not content to fall back on simple moral 
and spiritual convictions, but he plants his foot on 
the firm assurance of the establishment of a new 
kingdom by Christ, and of its future revelation, and 
he looks forward as much as the writer of the 
Apocalypse to a new heaven and a new earth. 
Similarly the conviction of things unseen is perhaps 
still more striking in the Christian Church than in 
the Jewish. For the unseen God of the Old Testa- 
ment was a God who by His very nature was invisible, 
and faith was the only instrument by which He could 
be apprehended. But the Saviour in whom Chris- 
tians believe has once been seen and heard, He has 
worn flesh and blood like ourselves, and in that flesh 
B2 


4 The Office of Faith. [ Lecr. 


and blood He passed from earth; and we believe 
ourselves to be in union and communion with a 
human nature like our own, as well as with a divine 
nature. And as with the Jews so with us—this 
whole life of faith, which has animated apostles, 
martyrs, saints, has been sustained by the promises 
and assurances of men who, in most respects, were of 
like passions with ourselves. ‘The witness of a few 
Apostles and Evangelists constitutes the basis on 
which the whole fabric of Christendom has been 
reared. They bear testimony to the most stupend- 
ous facts, to the vastest visions of the future. They 
claim from us, if the occasion should arise, the 
sacrifice of all that in this life men hold dear. They 
claim it, and the noblest souls who have lived since 
their time have yielded to the demand. 

Such are the familiar, though marvellous, charac- 
teristics of Jewish and Christian life. But it is im- 
portant to bear in mind that a characteristic the same 
in principle marks the life of other nations, and is at 
- the root of other religions. In all alike we observe 
a similar supremacy of the faculty of faith. The 
most conspicuous of all examples is that of Ma- 
hometanism. There also the assurance of things 
hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, have 
furnished the animating motives for a display of 
energy, of devotion, of valour, of policy, of contempt 
of life, of tenacity of purpose, which has at least 
constituted one of the most momentous forces in 
human history. At this moment, even in its decay, 


I.] The Office of Faith. 5 


the Mahometan world confronts the Christian na- 
tions with a desperate resistance ; and statesmen 
are perplexed how to deal with its reserve of en- 
thusiasm. All this immense force has been created 
by a single man—a man who had no antecedent 
expectations to appeal to, who called no witnesses in 
his support, and who made no other sacrifices for his 
cause than those which are repeatedly made by other 
great conquerors and adventurers. He started with 
an appeal to one great truth. On the influence thus 
gained he built up an elaborate system of worship, 
of morality, and of polity ; and by virtue of his sole 
word and authority he has secured its acceptance, 
with absolute submission of body and soul, by vast 
numbers and successive generations of the human 
race. On the assurances of this one man, and on 
those alone, has the portentous fabric of Mahomet- 
anism been reared ; and at this moment the assertion 
‘There is no God but God, and Mahomet is the 
prophet of God,’ suffices as the substance of things 
hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, to 
some of the most vigorous races on the earth. 
Turn to the older religions of the Kast and you 
observe the like spectacle. Buddhism, which is said 
‘to command the allegiance of a larger portion of 
mankind than any other creed, is similarly based on 
absolute faith in the spiritual intuitions of a single 
man. Doubtless, like Mahomet, he appealed to great 
facts in human nature, and to great truths in the 
human conscience. His appreciation of those facts 


6 The Office of Faith. [ Licr. 


and truths afforded him the credentials with which 
he commenced his mission, But starting from 
this ground, he and his followers elaborated a vast 
system of religious and moral philosophy, which for 
more than twenty centuries has governed the daily 
life, the future hopes, the whole physical, moral, 
and mental constitution of countless millions of our 
race. In the Buddha's teaching, confirmed by the 
assurances of the sages who succeeded him, myriads 
of souls find the substance of things hoped for, the 
evidence of things not seen. In reliance on this 
faith, the whole visible world becomes simply an 
unreality to be escaped from, and men follow their 
guide enthusiastically into an existence so intangible, 
that there is a dispute whether it be real exist- 
ence at all. The case is substantially the same 
with that ancient religion out of which Buddhism 
sprang. No matter how it arose, or how it may be 
adapted to certain peculiarities of the Hindoo mind, 
in point of fact it has for many generations rested 
on authority. By virtue of faith in that authority, 
the things not seen and the things hoped for are 
far more real to the mass of Hindoos than the things 
seen and the things possessed. Our power, our 
knowledge, our command of nature may be gradually 
making an impression on their minds, and compelling 
them to recognize the reality and inherent life of 
the world around them; but we are encountered in 
the first instance with the indifference of a faith 
convinced of its own superiority. The visible world 


— 


I.] The Office of Faith. 7 


may belong to us, but the invisible belongs to them, 
and in this trust they are capable of the most reso- 
lute abandonment of all that is held precious in this 
life. Similar considerations would be suggested if 
we turned to China, where the principle of authority, 
which is correlative with that of faith, is perhaps 
more powerful than in any other human community. 
In this case, indeed, its sphere of action is mainly 
confined to the present life ; but it involves none the 
less the same capacity for trust and for submission. 
These, moreover, are but the more stupendous 
instances of a principle which obtains in every race 
and nation in which there is any organic life or moral 
vigour. Review the course of history from the 
earliest times, or survey the face of the world at the 
present day, and you find the same characteristics 
everywhere and at all times predominant — the 
substance which is possessed by things hoped for, 
the intense conviction which prevails in the reality 
of things not seen, and the implicit trust which has 
been reposed in the great teachers and leaders of 
mankind. At this moment it is faith which is at 
once the great organizing and the great dividing 
power in the world. Mahometanism, Brahmanism, 
Buddhism, Confucianism — these are the governing 
forces of the various polities and civilizations which, 
in their world-wide mission, Englishmen have to 
encounter. It is under the sway of these creeds that 
vast masses of human beings are welded together 
like so many armies, that they offer to our faith, 


8 The Office of Faith. [Lecr. 


our science and our arms, so firm a front, and that 
they remain almost impenetrable long after all 
physical barriers have been surmounted. Even within 
the pale of Christianity the variations of faith 
between the Roman, the Greek, and the Protestant 
Churches create divergences in sympathy, in tone of 
thought, in the objects and general order of life, 
which are among the most potent political in- 
fluences. The substance of things hoped for, the 
evidence of things not seen—this, as a matter of 
fact, has been and still is the most powerful and 
universal force in the world of human nature, and 
in Faith has been found the mightiest influence 
to which men have ever appealed. 

There is something profoundly touching, as well 
as amazing, In the spectacle thus presented to us. 
We behold millions of men and women, most of them 
struggling painfully under physical burdens, amidst 
moral and mental perplexities, with but a brief span 
of life before them, and no certain knowledge of the 
world beyond, yet trusting their souls and their 
whole present and future to the guidance of a man 
like themselves, whose claims to their allegiance must 
in great measure rest on his own word and assurance. 
In reliance on him they are ready to meet death and 
torture themselves ; they are content to train their: 
children to follow the same guidance; until the 
hopes and interests of countless generations have been 
hazarded on the promises of a single prophet or sage. 
There would seem to have been no limit to the trust- 


i'd as The Office of Faith. 9 


fulness of human nature ; and the responsibility of 
those who have appealed to this trust, and who in 
some instances have abused it, is proportionately 
tremendous. 

Such, however, are the facts which meet our 
observation if we contemplate life on a large scale. 
The elementary principle at work is everywhere 
the same. Though the faith of Christians is vitally 
distinguished, by virtue of its objects, and by their 
reaction on itself, from the faith exercised in other 
religions, it would seem gratuitous to suppose that 
it employs an essentially different faculty. The 
description of faith by the sacred writer, that it is 
‘the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen, seems clearly to apply to all those 
creeds to which reference has been made, and covers 
the whole ground of human action in the moral and 
religious sphere. Upon faith, in this general sense 
of the word, every civilization has been based, and 
in proportion as such faith has been weakened has 
every civilization tottered to its fall. An universal 
instinct has taught statesmen to recognize in the 
maintenance of this principle the indispensable basis 
of the social and political organizations over which 
they have presided. In a word, it has been by the 
invisible rather than by the visible, by the future 
rather than by the present, by authority rather than 
by reason, by faith rather than by sight, that, as a 
matter of fact, mankind, as a whole, has been go- 
verned, has been organized, and has advanced to its 


10 The Office of Fatth. [ Lect. 


present condition. The part played by reason in 
this marvellous course of development has, indeed, 
been momentous, and has been second only to that 
of faith. But regarding history as a whole, the part 
of reason must be admitted to have been a secondary 
one. It is faith which has grasped whole nations 
and ages within its sway, and which has determined 
the main principles of their conduct and. their 
destiny. 

We are forced, however, at the present day, to 
confront a view of our position which offers a com- 
plete contrast to that suggested by this survey. The 
most brilliant achievements of our century have been 
its scientific advances. They have been so continu- 
ous, SO surprising, so comprehensive, and so benefi- 
cent, that they have naturally fascinated, and almost 
absorbed, the attention of our generation; until the 
process by which they have been reached, and the 
temper of mind they foster, tend to assert a predo- 
minance over all others. Few things are more deserv- 
ing of observation in the course of human thought, 
and in the development of human nature, than what 
may be called the lack of balance with which they 
have generally been accompanied. As one principle 
after another comes into prominence, as one faculty of 
man’s nature after another asserts itself, it overbears 
all others for a time ; it becomes exaggerated, and the 
whole mind receives a disproportionate development ; 
until some forgotten truth reasserts itself, and then 
perhaps a new disproportion is created. It would be 


I] The Office of Faath. il 


strange indeed if, under the intellectual excitement 
which scientific discoveries have aroused in the 
present day, we had escaped a danger from which 
every previous age has suffered. But however this — 
-may be, there can be no doubt of the fact that the 
habits fostered by scientific thought have of late been 
acquiring a predominance which is destructive, not so 
much of particular doctrines of the Christian creed, 
as of the essential principle of faith as characterised 
in the text. Science, in its strict application, admits 
no assurance of things only hoped for, and can allow 
no conviction of things incapable of being tested by 
the senses. Its claim at every step is for verification 
—verification, as is constantly insisted, by plain and 
practical tests. All else 13 to be put aside—not 
indeed, if we allow for some glaring exceptions, with 
disrespect, or with intolerance—but still to be put 
aside. <A general discredit is quietly and deliberately 
cast upon the whole fabric of our creed as something 
which, whatever may be said for it, has no adequate 
basis on which to rest. Much has of late years been 
heard of the conflict between faith and science ; and 
however that conflict may be appeased on particular 
points, there remains, it is to be feared, that cardinal 
opposition in point of principle to which the con- 
sideration now in view directs our attention. 

It is of course a commonplace to assert that there 
can be no real collision between the truths of religion 
and those of physical science; and it is equally a 
commonplace that there can be no real incompati- 


12 The Office of Faith. [ Lect. 


bility between the scientific spirit and the spirit 
of faith. But there is nothing inconsistent with 
this nor anything in the least degree disrespectful 
to science, in urging that it is not only possible, 
but too common for one faculty and one mental 
habit to be so developed as to overbear others, and 
to do injustice to them. It is this, there is great 
reason to apprehend, which is the case at the present 
moment. Science, to use a familiar expression, ‘1s 
in the air’—science in the special and limited sense 
in which the word is now chiefly understood; and 
there is a tendency to judge of all things on purely 
scientific grounds. It is positively asserted, or 
tacitly assumed, that Faith, as we have contem- 
plated it in the general course of human history, is 
unjustifiable as a principle of action, and that the 
welfare of mankind is to be pursued by rigidly 
restricting our beliefs within the limits of that 
which can be sensibly verified. There is, indeed, 
one famous philosophical system of modern thought, 
that of Positivism, which is exclusively based 
upon this principle. But this is only another in- 
stance of the disposition of the French genius to 
embody in a sharp and logical shape ideas which, in 
a less definite form, are moulding the thought 
of the age. It has been said that the business 
of philosophy is to answer three questions: ‘ What 
can I know?’ ‘What ought I to do?’ ‘For 
what may I hope?’ But these three questions, as 
has been recently asserted by one of the most 


[.] The Office of Faith. 13 


distinguished natural philosophers of the present 
day*, ‘resolve themselves in the long run into the 
first ; for rational expectation and moral action are 
alike based upon beliefs; and a belief is void of 
justification unless its subject-matter lies within the 
boundaries of possible knowledge, and unless its 
evidence satisfies the conditions which experience 
imposes as a guarantee of credibility. In this 
characteristic statement of the scientific principle 
there is much ambiguity; but any doubt as to its 
practical tendency in the hands of modern philo- 
sophers must be removed by the consequences de- 
duced from it by its author, who is led to give his 
assent to the sceptical conclusions of Hume respecting 
our belief in immortality and in God’. Experience 
shows, in fact, that such a principle, in proportion as 
it is rigidly applied, tends not so much to produce a 
direct conflict with our Christian faith, as to under- 
mine the grounds on which we adhere to it. So far 
as our creed is beyond the reach of verification, so 
far as it rests upon the mere words and assertions 
of its founder, so far as it is a matter of trust and 
not of sight, its hold upon men’s minds is liable to 
be shaken by the undue predominance of these habits 
of scientific thought. 

There would seem something very astonishing in 
the challenge thus thrown down to that which, as 


a Professor Huxley on Hume (Macmillan and Co., 1879), p. 48. 
See Note 1. 
b See the same book, pp. 157 and 172; and the next Lecture. 


14 The Office of Faith. [Lucr. 


we have seen, has been the predominant disposition 
of human nature in all ages and in all countries. 
But in proportion to the boldness and thoroughness 
of a challenge is sometimes its temporary success, 
and the perplexity which has been created in the 
present instance is In many ways apparent. One 
important illustration of the influence in question is 
conspicuous in modern theology. The extreme 
rationalistic school represents, of course, a deliberate 
predetermination to reduce every doctrine of re- 
velation, and every element of religious life as 
exhibited in the Scriptures, within the lmits of 
natural knowledge. But far short of this, there is 
a strong temptation among us to what may be 
designated as a minimising theology—a theology 
tending more and more to throw into the back- 
ground everything which is mysterious and _per- 
plexing in our faith, and to insist solely on that moral 
part of it, which commends itself to the enlight- 
ened conscience of an educated society, trained and 
stimulated by eighteen centuries of Christian teach- 
ing and example. There is a disposition to reduce 
within the smallest possible limits that which is said 
to be essential in Christianity, so as to diminish, as 
much as may be, the appearance of its requiring our 
assent to truths beyond the range of our natural 
faculties. 

Now it may be that this tendency, like other 
disproportionate developments of thought, may not 
be without its advantages in drawing increased 


I.] The Office of Farth. 15 


attention to the particular aspect of truth which it 
exaggerates, and in establishing a firmer recognition 
of that which may be regarded as the natural 
element in the Christian faith. But so far as it is 
an endeavour to render the demand upon faith less 
severe, and its conflict with the scientific spirit less 
striking, the attempt not only fails, but to some 
extent even aggravates the difficulty. For suppose 
a creed reduced to the single article of belief in the 
goodness and perfection of God. Without such a 
belief anything at all in the nature of a pure religion 
can hardly be said to exist, and the point is, of course, 
one which, as St. Paul asserts, is dictated to our 
consciences by the elementary instincts of faith. But, 
at the same time, when subjected to the analysis of 
reason, and brought into contact with a rigid scien- 
tific standard, it presents, perhaps, more momentous 
difficulties than any of the articles of faith which 
follow it. The moment the scientific reason begins 
to discuss it, we are confronted with the tremendous, 
and apparently insoluble, problem of the existence 
of evil. The faith which, in the full sight and con- 
sciousness of that problem, maintains its firm assent . 
to the absolute goodness and omnipotence of God, 
has abandoned the ground of mere rational belief 
and has taken a step which justifies, in principle, 
any subsequent advance. It has given up, once for 
all, the right to measure its assent by the limits 
and. dictates of reason alone, and has committed it- 
self to the hands of another guide altogether. 


16 The Office of Faith. [ Lect. 


That this is no mere speculative perplexity is 
demonstrated by a prolonged and pathetic expe- 
rience. The persistence of this problem of evil, 
and its terrible pressure, are among the most con- 
spicuous facts in the history both of human thought 
and of human life. In the book of Job it is de- 
picted as the great agony of patriarchal thought ; 
and the practical solution of it there given is that 
upon which we are thrown back up to the present 
hour—namely, that there is no rational solution 
for it at all, and that we must be content with 
the confession of our utter ignorance and weak- 
ness, and with simple submission and trust in the 
Almighty. ‘Job answered the Lord and said, Be- 
hold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I 
will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I 
spoken ; but I will not answer: yea twice; but I will 
proceed no further*’ But a still more conspicuous 
proof of the enormous pressure of this elementary 
difficulty is furnished by the great religions of the 
Kast. Buddhism—to refer again to the most striking 
case—may literally be said to have been created by 
_ the problem of evil. The meditative speculation of 
India, brooding over the facts of life, experienced an 
agony like that of Job; and failing to fall back upon 
the faith which sustained him, has taken refuge in 
a system which may be described as a profound re- 
ligious narcotic. Buddhism cannot solve the problem ; 


© Job xl. 3-5. 


I.] The Office of Faith. 17 


but it can numb the religious consciousness by a 
philosophic asceticism, and can foster the hope of 
escaping into an existence where the soul will no 
longer be conscious of the evil of life. The same 
problem has been recently revived by German specu- 
lation, and weighs on mere reason with as over- 
powering a burden as ever. Judging by experience, 
it would seem that the human soul cannot leave the 
problem alone, and insists on some support or other 
amidst its distress and misery. The same difficulty 
presents itself in a similar, but not less urgent form 
in the daily work of the ministers of our own faith 
among the poor and suffering. It is one thing to 
say that God is good in the shelter of an academic 
retirement, and a very different thing to say it, and 
to believe it, amidst the weakness, the sickness, and 
the squalor of poverty. 

Now it is precisely in the most mysterious doc- 
trines of our creed, in those which make the strongest 
demands on faith, and are the most remote from 
any possibility of scientific verification, that Chris- 
tian souls find their support and refuge under these 
burdens of the flesh and these torments of the spirit. 
The message that ‘God so loved the world, that He 
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ 
—this is a message, simple as are its terms, which 
transcends all philosophy, all reason, all experience, 
nay, all capacity of comprehension ; and yet it is in 
reliance on this message, and on other assurances of 

G 


18 The Office of Farth. [ Lecr. 


the same kind, that Christians are delivered from all 
despair, and are enabled, under whatever distresses, 
to cling to their belief in the love of their Father in 
heaven. When the Christian minister can assure a 
suffering soul on the bed of death, in misery or 
pain, that whatever its agonies, the Son of God in 
human form endured far worse for its sake, as a 
pledge of the love of its Father, and in fulfilment 
of that love, he applies a remedy which is equal to 
any need. The message of the Cross, interpreted by 
the doctrine of the Incarnation, is thus, in moments 
of real trial, the support of the most elementary 
principle of faith. In fact, the minimising theology 
now in question depends for its plausibility upon a 
simple evasion of the real problems of philosophy, 
and of the practical difficulties of life. The full and 
explicit faith of the creeds recognizes those diffi- 
culties, and looks them in the face. It owns that 
they are insuperable upon any grounds of mere 
natural reason, and it offers supernatural realities 
and supernatural assurances to overcome them. 
Considerations such as these may suffice to show 
that it would be vain to attempt any compromise 
with the scientific spirit by minimising the articles 
of our faith, As long as we retain any of them, 
however elementary, as more than bare speculations, 
we go beyond scientific grounds, and rest upon 
assurances which transcend the capacity of mere 
reason. We rise above nature, beyond the realm of 
sight and sense and observation, and we act on the 


I] The Office of Faith. 19 


conviction of things not seen. In proportion, indeed, 
to the depth and extent of the Christian’s experience 
is his faith transformed into knowledge. We are 
given ‘an understanding that we may know Him 
that is true, and we are in Him that is true4” But 
in the order of the Christian life, according to the old 
saying, faith comes before knowledge, and we believe 
in order that we may know. The scientific principle, 
as described in the passage previously quoted ®, is the 
reverse of this; in the scientific sphere knowledge 
precedes faith, and we learn to know in order that we 
may believe. But it also follows from this principle 
that science must know before she can deny. Ac- 
cordingly, it is to be observed that the attitude of 
philosophy and science towards religious truth, as 
represented by their ablest and most authoritative 
exponents in modern times, is not one of negation, 
but of a simple confession of ignorance, or, as such an 
attitude has been recently termed, ‘Agnosticism.’ The 
representative writer just referred to has, indeed, of 
late gone so far as to say, in no intemperate spirit, 
that ‘in respect of the existence and attributes of 
the soul, as of those of the Deity, logic is powerless 
and reason silent‘ ;’ and if this be an extreme state- 
ment, it would at least seem beyond question that, 
from such a point of view, logic and reason are 80 
hesitating and so perplexed as to afford no adequate 
basis for action, and no sufficient assurance for un- 
d x John v. 20. phat eee 


f Professor Huxley on Hume, p. 179. 
Gee 


20 The Office of Faath. [ Lect. 


qualified faith. Reason, indeed, when exhibited in 
its highest power and animated by sound moral 
instincts, has attained, even without the aid of revela- 
tion, to lofty anticipations, to dim apprehensions of 
mighty realities beyond its ken—‘feeling after’ the 
great facts of religion. But its safest employment 
on this subject is that which has been exemplified 
so forcibly by Bishop Butler—that of defence rather 
than of construction, of answering the difficulties 
raised by itself, and thus acting as its own critic. 
Such, at any rate, is the attitude of scientific 
reason at the present day. It acknowledges its in- 
competence to pronounce positively against any of 
the great truths of our faith. It has of late, for 
instance, distinctly confessed, by the mouth of one 
of its most distinguished and authoritative repre- 
sentatives, that there can be no just ground, on the 
principles of natural philosophy, for denying the 
possibility of the occurrence of miracles. ‘No one,’ 
—to quote again from Professor Huxley s—‘ who 
wishes to keep well within the limits of that which 
he has a right to assert would affirm that it is im- 
possible that the sun and moon should ever have 
been made to appear to stand still in the valley of 
Ajalon; or that the walls of a city should have fallen 
down at a trumpet blast; or that water was turned 
into wine; because such events are contrary to uni- 
form experience and violate laws of nature. For 
aught he can prove to the contrary, such events may 
& Professor Huxley on Hume, pp. 134, 136. 


I. ] The Office of Faith. 21 


appear in the order of nature to-morrow. Again: 
‘No event is too extraordinary to be impossible ; and 
therefore if by the term miracle, we mean only 
“extremely wonderful events,’ there can be no just 
ground for denying the possibility of their occurrence.’ 
But if there be any truth or fact of our faith on the 
possibility of which science might have been expected 
to be able to pronounce, it is on that of miracles ; 
for they are events which, at any rate, occur within 
the natural realm, and are within the cognizance of 
the senses. If scientific principles leave this question 
open, it seems hard to say what questions of the 
Christian religion they do not leave open. Science 
places itself; by its own confession, out of court in 
the matter. Of course, if any article of faith, or any 
alleged fact in religion, is contradicted by an estab- 
lished truth of science, there is at once an end of 
it. To modify the memorable phrase of our great 
apologist, ‘let Reason be kept to, and if any point in 
Christian belief can be shown to be really contrary to 
it, let the belief, in the name of God, be given up?.’ 
But where Science plainly confesses herself incom- 
- petent to pronounce, where she hesitates, falters, and, 
in the person of her frankest representatives, 1s 
silent, let it not be supposed that she has discredited 
truths which rest upon other grounds. 

It thus appears that if at the present time the 
principle of faith has been weakened by the influence 
of the scientific spirit, this result is due to an entirely 

h Bishop Butler, in the Analogy, Part II, ch. 5, sec. 7. 


22 The Office of Faith. [Lxcr. 


fallacious impression. It is not the case that the 
slightest valid presumption has been established 
against our faith. It is simply that the dazzling 
blaze of the greatest illumination ever opened to the 
natural eye has entranced the mental vision of our 
age, and has made other objects and other sources of 
illumination seem for the moment dim to men. The 
apprehension of Bacon has been fulfilled: ‘ Sensus, 
instar solis, globi terrestris faciem aperit, coelestis 
claudit et obsignat‘. But though the impression may 
be fallacious and unreasonable, few can doubt that it 
prevails, or that it has a very considerable effect 
in obstructing the general influence of the Christian 
faith, and in weakening its grasp upon many who, on 
the whole, submit to it. As has always been the 
case in similar circumstances, the consequences are 
felt in other matters besides religious faith. They 
are perceptible in a general enfeeblement of the 
principle of authority, and in an indisposition to sub- 
mit to restraint in thought, in speech, and in conduct. 
On the Continent, at all events, the prevalence of this 
temper is felt to menace society with very grave con- 
sequences indeed, and it would be rash to regard our 
own country as out of the reach of a like danger. 
The revival, in short, appears to be urgently 
needed of the principle of faith, and with it a reno- 
vation of that just authority which holds families, 
societies, and nations together, and which moulds 
successive generations in harmony with deliberate 
i Praef. ad Instaur. Mag. 


I.] The Office of Faith. 23 


and noble aims. That general operation of faith, 
throughout the world and through all history, 
with a review of which these observations were in- 
troduced, should serve to convince us of the immense 
moral and spiritual force which lies latent in human 
nature awaiting such a revival. Unless that nature 
is entirely changed, the hearts of men must still be 
susceptible of that mightiest and noblest of all 
emotions, which impels them to follow the leader 
whom they trust through doubt and through dark- 
ness, through peril and through death, to build upon 
his promises their expectations of things hoped for, 
to accept his assurances respecting things not seen, 
and to unite loyally with others in maintaining 
his kingdom and asserting his authority. If the 
capacity for such a spirit should be stifled amongst 
ourselves by a false rationalism— though how can 
it be stifled as long as England and the English 
universities furnish a generous youth to respond to 
its appeal ?—yet, at all events, this spirit is still alive 
in the Hast. It may yet prove the spring of a new 
life throughout those regions from whence all faith 
and all civilization arose. The Christian cannot doubt 
that the Faith of the Gospel will thus return to its 
ancient home and reanimate its chosen people; and 
when that final triumph of the true Prophet and 
King of mankind is achieved, God grant that Kurope 
may not have cause to hear in it an echo, or a 
reversal, of the voice once addressed to the Jews— 
‘Behold! we turn to the Gentiles.’ 


24 The Office of Faith. [ Lizcr. 


If these considerations be just, it will not be 
inopportune to make an attempt, in humility and 
prayer, to consider the nature, the justification, and 
the present position of that principle which, as we 
have seen, lies so deeply at the root of human life, 
and on which the Christian creed and the fabric of 
Christian civilization repose. The object of this 
course of Lectures will be to offer a contribution 
towards strengthening the Foundations and elucidat- 
ing the Elements of Faith, and thus to illustrate the 
character and the just limits of that Authority on 
which, notwithstanding the silence of science and the 
hesitations of reason, we build our expectations of 
things hoped for, our conviction of things not seen. 
For this purpose, an endeavour will be made to 
exhibit the manner in which Faith is founded in the 
deep convictions of the conscience, to trace the de- 
velopment of its lofty structure under the guidance 
of revelation ; and finally to consider the ground on 
which it rests in our own Church, and at the pre- 
sent time. It will at least be an assistance towards 
appreciating what faith may be now, if we realise 
in some measure what it has been in the past, and 
if we can quicken our apprehension of the method in 
which it has operated in the great crises of religious 
history. 

There remains, however, one consideration to which 
it may be necessary to advert in introducing this 
subject to your consideration. Such a review of the 
operation of Faith as has just been offered, and as is 


r] The Office of Faith. 25 


further contemplated in the course of these Lectures, 
has sometimes been approached in a very different 
spirit from that which prompts the present attempt. 
It is obvious to point to the discordant results, to 
the conflicting beliefs, to the miserable divisions, 
even within the Christian Church, to which Faith 
thas led, and to ask what can be the value of a 
principle which has hitherto produced such confusion, 
and which, at the present time, occasions to some of 
the most faithful souls such grievous perplexity. 
Nothing is more obvious. But nothing is more un- 
generous, at least on the part of the sons of the 
Church ; and there is nothing to which the answer 
seems more simple. On what ground is it to be 
supposed, where was it ever promised, that faith 
alone, of all the faculties and functions of man’s 
nature, would operate independently of his weakness 
and his sin, and would not have to grow with his 
moral growth, strengthen with his moral strength, 
and be enfeebled or perverted in proportion to his 
moral unfaithfulness? What an indictment might 

not be drawn up against reason itself, for the errors, — 
the half-truths, the controversies into which it has 
led mankind! What indictments have not actually 
been drawn up against civilization, and against the 
very principles of society, on the ground of the wars, 
the diseases, the private injuries, which they have 
involved! But who would be thought to be uttering 
anything but a paradox if on this ground, like our 
greatest satirist, he were to suggest the folly of being 


26 The Office of Faath. [Lecr. I. 


guided by reason, or, like our most philosophical 
statesman, were to write a treatise in vindication of 
natural societyi? The sad record of Christian 
divisions is but a proof that in the highest concerns 
of the soul we are as much ina state of conflict, of 
trial, of moral struggle as in all other spheres of our 
life; and there would be nothing unnatural if it also 
showed that in the loftiest regions of all the tempta- 
tions were greater than elsewhere, the consequences 
of a fall more conspicuous and more disastrous. It is 
here, in fact, that the human spirit finds its ultimate 
trial; here and here alone, as will be seen in the sequel, 
in its aspirations towards things hoped for, its crav- 
ings for things not seen, its yearnings towards infinite 
truth, goodness, and beauty, that all its faculties, 
intellectual, moral, and even physical, are put to their 
severest test. Let us not for a moment indulge the 
unworthy apprehension that He who has endowed us 
with the supreme instinct of Faith will disappoint it. 
In proportion to our faithful response to the striv- 
ings of His Spirit will He gradually lead us onwards 
to the light, until faith at length is merged in His 
perfect and glorious vision. 


j Burke, A Vindication of Natural Society: or, a view of the 
miseries and evils arising to mankind from every species of Artificial 
Society. Burke’s Works, vol. i. 


LECTURE II. 


THE FAITH OF THE CONSCIENCE, 


Rom. 1. 28. 


And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God 
gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are 
not conventent. 


IT is unnecessary at the outset of this enquiry to 
examine the various definitions of Faith. Such a 
discussion would in great measure relate to the 
meaning of words; while we are concerned with 
facts. Our object is to obtain a clearer conception 
of the nature of Faith by considering its operation 
in history, and, above all, in the history of the 
Church ; and without any strict definition, we know 
sufficiently where to observe it, and on what main 
principles the structure of the Christian creed is 
built. The first, and so far the most momentous, 
of those principles is Belief in God. As was shewn 
in the first Lecture, this belief, when submitted to 
the keen scrutiny of a cultivated reason, and sub- 
jected to the severe tests of a prolonged experience, 


28 The Faith [ Lect. 


appears to demand the support which is afforded it 
by the full revelation of God in Christ. The diffi- 
culties which press upon us, in proportion as the 
realities of life are forced upon our view, are so 
tremendous, they had been felt to be so overwhelm- 
ing alike by Jewish prophets and by Greek philo- 
sophers, that, in another sense from that which is 
usually understood, we may well say ‘the fulness of 
the time was come, when God sent forth His Son that 
we might receive the adoption of sons. From the 
misery of Job to the despair of Habakkuk, exclaim- 
ing that ‘the law is slacked and judgment doth never 
go forth,’ the burden on human nature seemed to 
be becoming more than it could bear; and some 
assurance of the divine love, such as was vouchsafed 
in the life and death of our Lord, appeared indis- 
pensable, if the noblest thoughts and hopes of the 
world were not to be crushed. That assurance, once 
vouchsafed, became thenceforward all sufficient in it- 
self to millions of souls, however suffering and however 
perplexed. It is still for the world at large the most 
decisive testimony to our Father in Heaven that can 
possibly be adduced; and we cannot well place too 
absolute and simple a reliance upon it. At the present 
time, in particular, it merits the careful considera- 
tion of those who have to deal either with heathen- 
ism abroad or with ordinary doubt and irreligion at 
home, whether the direct message of a living and 
historic Christ, recorded in the Gospels, and attested 


a Habakkuk buf & 


IT.] of the Conscience. ! 29 


by an historic Church, does not afford a more natural 
and a more potent argument for faith than any 
formal system of evidences. ‘He that hath seen Me,’ 
said our Lord, ‘ hath seen the Father; and how sayest 
thou then, Shew us the Father?’ In proportion 
as we can enable men to see Christ will they see His 
Father, and to this end all practical teaching should 
be directed. 

But the course to be adopted in order to convert 
men in practice, and the method to be pursued in 
explaining the nature of faith and vindicating its 
action, are very different; and for our present 
purposes it is necessary we should enquire into the 
character and the validity of those primary acts of 
faith upon which, as a matter of fact, the whole 
superstructure of the Jewish and the Christian 
religion has been erected. Persistent efforts are 
now made by able and influential writers to under- 
mine these elementary principles. Distinguished 
men of science write popular handbooks, in which 
the most sceptical philosophy of the last century is 
revived and justified ©; and so far as the elementary 
foundations of religious faith are thus undermined, 
it becomes impracticable to obtain a due hearing 
for the full and convincing revelation of our Lord 
and of His Apostles. We claim faith in a divine 
revelation ; but we are challenged at the outset to 


b St. John xiv. g. 
© For example, Professor Huxley’s account of Hume, already 
referred to. 


30 The Faith [Lecr. 


state what justification we can have for believing 
in any thing which cannot be verified by natural 
reason and ordinary experience. It is alleged that the 
elementary article of belief in God is incapable of such 
verification, and doctrines assuming a revelation from 
Him are consequently treated as outside the range 
of practical discussion. It was shewn in the preced- 
ing Lecture how-flagrantly such a challenge conflicts 
with the universal dictates of human nature, and 
what a presumption is consequently raised against 
it. But it is not enough to create a presumption 
without vindicating it; and lamentable as it must 
seem from one point of view to be arguing this 
elementary question at the present day, the con- 
siderations it suggests are of essential importance to 
our further argument. 

Now St. Paul in the text propounds a fact in 
human nature, and a principle of the divine govern- 
ment, which appear to throw a vivid and a terrible 
hight upon the history of this primary article of 
belief. The verse is somewhat inadequately -trans- 
lated in our version, and its instructiveness is greatly 
enhanced by a due appreciation of its terms. The 
Greek ovk édoxiuacay tov Oedv éxew ev eTuyvecet CONVEYS 
much more than that ‘they did not like to retain 
God in their knowledge4’ It implies that they 
did not duly apply themselves to that process of 
testing, of proving, of trying—as metals are tried in 
the fire—the natural revelation vouchsafed to them, 


d Note 2, Appendix. 


II.] of the Conscience. 31 


and that they thus incapacitated themselves from 
retaining a true knowledge of God. In other 
words, the Apostle speaks of that knowledge as 
being sufficiently open to them, but as not to be 
attained without moral effort; and the loss of it is 
consequently ascribed to a distinct failure of moral 
energy, which was justly punished by divine repro- 
bation, and which led to deeper moral corruption. 
The consequence, in fact, as is usual with divine 
judgments, precisely corresponded to the cause. Men 
declined that full exertion of their moral faculties 
which was necessary for the maintenance of their 
belief in God; and those very faculties, thus deprived 
of their due exercise, lost their soundness and their 
genuineness, and became addxymor, base coin, unable to 
bear the severe tests of life. Belief in God seems thus 
propounded as the great touchstone of the moral 
vigour of mankind. Man possesses in his reason and 
his heart, in the world without and in the world 
within, arguments enough to afford him a substantial 
knowledge of God, and to lead him to worship and 
to trust. But they are not demonstrative. They 
are not even mere arguments of probability. In 
other words, they are not simply intellectual. They 
put a strain upon the moral nature, and the manner 
in which that strain is borne determines the moral 
condition alike of individuals and of races. Once let 
men take the broader and easier road of moral 
supineness, and they at once lose their hold upon 
God, and are in imminent danger of falling into an 


32 The Faith [Lcr. 


abyss of corruption, such as that described in this 
chapter. But let them choose the narrower and 
severer path, and God becomes more and more a 
vivid reality to them, and they advance from strength 
to strength. 

It would lead us into far too wide a field, and 
one beyond the scope of these Lectures, to ex- 
amine in detail the manner in which this state-— 
ment of St. Paul is justified by the facts of other 
religions and by the course of history. Such an 
enquiry would need, for its completeness, information 
which can only be expected from those investiga- 
tions into the early history of mankind and into 
the origin of their various religions, which have 
of late received such an impulse, but in which no 
adequate attention seems yet to have been paid to in- 
timations of the working of the moral sense®. Hven 
if restricted in its scope within historic times, such 
an attempt would demand vast and varied learning, 
as well as profound moral insight; and the learned 
historian of the Romans under the empire has himself 
shrunk from the task of analysing that momentous 
revolution in which this principle was, perhaps, most 
fully tested—that of the dissolution of Paganism 
and the establishment of the Christian Church f, 
But certain broad facts, visible on the face of history, 
are strongly confirmatory of the Apostle’s statement, 

e Note 3, Appendix. 


f Dean Merivale’s History of the Romans under the Empire, 
yol. vill. p. 369. 


Hy] of the Conscience. 33 


and should alone be sufficient to impose some re- 
straint upon the wantonness of speculation now 
exhibited upon this subject. We observe, as a 
matter of fact, that every people, of whatever race, 
whether ancient or modern, who have acquiesced 
in Pantheism or Polytheism, or in any form of 
Agnosticism, have also, to say the very least, become 
deficient in moral vigour; and up to the present 
time such races have exhibited unmistakable signs 
of an accelerating moral decay. There appears, also, 
to be no question historically that imperfect as is the 
apprehension of God in Mahometanism, fatally as it 
is neutralized by the corruptions with which Ma- 
homet falsified the great truth entrusted to him, the 
proclamation of that truth nevertheless exercised at 
the outset a strong moral influence. To that influence 
an enduring monument was erected by the arms, the 
philosophy, the learning, and the art which flourished 
under the earlier Caliphs, and in a minor degree it is 
still said to be observable when the faith of Islam 
is brought to bear upon races sunk in idolatry. It 
is an equally instructive, and an equally unquestion- 
able, fact that the philosophers by whom the belief 
in God has been most strongly maintained—such, 
for instance, as Socrates and Plato among the Greeks, 
and Kant among the Germans—have also been those 
whose attention has been most concentrated upon 
moral considerations, and who have done the most 
to stimulate the moral element in human nature. 
The noblest moral system of the ancient world was 
D 


34 The Faath [ Lecr. 


that of Stoicism; and the later Stoics, says Dean 
Merivale, as compared with their predecessors, ‘had 
attained a clearer idea of the personality of God, 
with a higher conception of His goodness and 
His purity. They could not rest in the pantheism 
of an earlier ages.’ Thus, even before we consider 
the evidence afforded by Jewish and Christian 
history, in which the union between moral and 
religious convictions is intense and indissoluble, we 
find, on a broad survey of history and philosophy, 
that morality and a belief in God seem, as the 
Apostle declares, to rise or fall together. 

What is the secret of this remarkable connection? | 
It is to be found in those recesses of the conscience 
in which the perennial spring of moral life resides. 
We are told that when St. Paul reasoned before 
Felix and Drusilla of righteousness, temperance, and 
judgment to come, Felix became afraid. In that 
incident we have an example of the universal effect 
of a direct appeal to moral convictions. Between 
Felix and ourselves nearly two thousand years are 
interposed, but he is completely one with us in his 
involuntary response to the Apostle’s exhortation. 
In the time of Felix, as much as in the present 
day, Conscience, when aroused by a voice like that 
of the Apostle, bears witness within every human 
soul that its sin will be punished, and its righteous- 
ness rewarded. In the hour of temptation we all 


& History of the Romans under the Empire, vol. viii. p. 365. 


aS of the Conscience. 35 


have this distinct conviction aroused within us; 
and the literature of the most distant past proves 
that in its essence the same conviction has at all 
times overawed the moral consciousness. It is but 
a voice, to adopt the usual phrase; but it is a voice 
which is felt to be authoritative, and which fur- 
nishes the practical sanction to morality. Before 
it, when evoked by a great master like St. Paul, 
the human soul trembles, and anticipates with awe 
a judgment upon its acts from which it cannot 
escape. 

Now even before we recognise the full force of 
this witness of the conscience, we must observe 
that, in proportion to its clearness and decisiveness, 
it requires an act of faith as distinct from reason. 
That which is here exhibited is something quite 
different from a simple intuition of truth. It is not 
merely a case of the acceptance of certain eternal 
principles of right and wrong. Such principles 
might be conceived as resting on a similar foundation 
to that of the great axioms of scientific truth, or the 
canons of beauty, and as authenticated by a primary 
intuition. But in such a conception the most essen- 
tial element in the fact under consideration would be 
omitted. It is not simply that certain things are re- 
cognised as right, and certain other things as wrong. 
It is not even the paramount conviction that to do 
the right and to refuse the wrong is the duty and the 
highest honour of man. It is not, in fact, simply a 
sense of duty which is aroused by the voice of the 

D2 


36 The Faath [Lecr. 


conscience. It is a sense, and a conviction, that 
there exists a sanction for that duty, and that a 
violation of it will be surely avenged. It is ‘a 
certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery 
indignation ;’ an assurance that ‘ to them that are 
unrighteous and obey not the truth, there will be 
a revelation of ‘indignation and wrath, tribulation 
and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth 
evil;’ and on the other hand, ‘glory, honour, and 
peace to every man that worketh good}, ‘This is not 
simply a vision of moral beauty, a conviction of the 
supreme claim of morality upon our reason and our 
allesiance. It is this no doubt, but it 1s much more. 
It is a conviction that in ourselves and in others 
this claim will be enforced. We feel that it will 
be enforced, moreover, in the way of judgment, and 
not merely in that of natural consequences. The 
warning of conscience is thus something distinct in 
kind from the conviction that fire will burn if we 
put our hands into it, or that if we disregard the 
law of gravitation we shall suffer for it. In those 
cases the consequence is visible and immediate; but 
it is the characteristic of conscience to warn a man 
of a future judgment even when he escapes all 
visible penalty. The conviction it enforces is not 
merely that certain consequences will follow our 
evil deeds, but that we deserve certain penalties, 
and that we must expect them to be inflicted, 


h Heb. x. 27; Rom. ii. ro. 


IT.] of the Conscience. 37 


because we deserve them. It is a conviction, in 
other words, that we are responsible, and that we 
shall be held to our responsibility. 

Now this conviction, to which every moralist, 
every teacher, every ruler appeals, seems in its very 
nature to be antecedent to all experience, and de- 
pendent for its force and vitality on a principle 

external to it. It appears, moreover, wholly inex- 
- plicable by any process of evolution. Without dis- 
paraging the applicability of that hypothesis to 
explain certain moral phenomena, it can hardly 
account for the existence in the earliest moral con- 
sciousness of humanity of an instinct with which 
visible experience was often painfully in conflict-— 
even more flagrantly in conflict than at the present 
dayi If the Scriptures be regarded simply as very 
ancient records, they bear witness to the intensity 
with which in the very dawn of history this conviction 
was grasped; and similarly on the monuments of 
ancient Egyptian civilisation it is exhibited as exer- 
cising a predominant influence in the most remote 
antiquity. The natural cause which at those periods 
could account for such a belief, and which in all ages 
has rendered an appeal to it so potent a moral 
instrument, has yet to be stated. Reason and ex- 
perience would doubtless even in early days suggest 
a belief that, in the course of life and history, 
righteousness would on the whole be rewarded, and 


i Note 4. 


38 The Faith [Lucr, 


vice would on the whole be punished. The tendency 
of history, the result of civilisation, is now seen with 
sufficient clearness to be in this direction. But this 
main tendency, this general result, seems to afford no 
guarantee whatever for the full assertion and vindi- 
cation of the principle in relation to each conscience 
and to every individual. It would not enable us 
to rise to the universality of the Apostle’s assurance, 
of ‘indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, 
upon every soul of man that doeth evil, and of 
‘glory, honour, and peace to every man _ that 
worketh good. So far as we accept that assurance, 
we pass beyond the bounds of experience, beyond 
the limits of that which can be verified, and we 
grasp the substance of things hoped for, the evidence 
of things not seen. Yet it is a conviction of this 
kind which is at the root of the trembling of such 
a man as Felix, and which shakes the soul of every 
man when his conscience is aroused by a preacher 
of righteousness. 

Judging, in fact, by the present life and its daily 
experience, it has been felt in all ages to be im- 
possible to discern the full vindication of the law 
of righteousness, and of the demands of the con- 
science. It is true, no doubt, that the great balance 
of evidence is in favour of that law, and that it is 
established as the cardinal law of history with all 
the certainty that can be expected in moral affairs. 
But there are also conspicuous instances of those 
anomalies which weighed so cruelly on the Psalmist, 


IT. | of the Conscience. 39 


of evil doers flourishing, of their living in power and 
opulence, leaving the rest of their substance to their 
children, and of no visible vengeance following upon 
their immorality. Such instances are not merely 
the perplexity of good men; they are the theme 
of satirists and the constant material of Cynicism. 
Apart from the general course of events, it is beyond 
a question that unrighteousness has been prosperous 
and successful, and that it is so even at the present 
day. In reference to individuals, there is certainly no 
complete indication to be derived from experience in 
favour of the assurance of conscience that every man 
will be rewarded according to his works. Yet that 
conviction remains—imperative, menacing, warning 
every soul in its hour of temptation, or threatening 
it in its moments of remorse. To put it aside, to 
stifle it, is consciously and deliberately to impair 
our moral vigour. Men cannot escape from it 
- without forfeiting their moral health and vitality. 
But if they cling to this conviction in spite of 
experience, they are acting, even if unconsciously, 
on a principle of faith. They are not arguing 
from a present to a future experience. They are 
not building upon any such probability, imper- 
fect as it has been said to be, that because the 
sun rises to-day it will rise to-morrow. They are 
not saying, as a natural philosopher might do, that 
a great law of which the operation is imperfectly 
visible will be shewn, by further investigation, 
to be really operative. A natural philosopher in 


“ 


40 The Faith | Lecr. 


such a case relies upon being able, sooner or later, 
to exhibit in present experience the complete opera- 
tion of the law in question, and to demonstrate its 
supremacy in the very phenomena which appeared 
to defy it. But any such present operation and 
consequent demonstration of the law of righteous- 
ness 1s the very thing which, in its details and in 
reference to individuals, is evidently and painfully 
lacking. Nevertheless, this ineradicable instinct of 
the human conscience compels men to believe that 
sooner or later, here or hereafter, in one way or 
another, the claim of righteousness will be satisfied, 
and that judgment will be executed. O! Testi- 
monium animae naturaliter Christianaek! <‘ There- 
fore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou 
art that judgestl’ Notwithstanding instances to the 
contrary which are flagrant and obtrusive, notwith- 
standing the bitter complaints of prophets, priests, 
poets, and historians, though the righteous perish 
and no man layeth it to heart, men believe in a 
judgment to come, and their deepest moral convic- 
tions thus involve a principle which no experience 
can demonstrate, and with which much bitter ex-. 
perience seems daily to conflict. 

It seems of the more importance to insist upon 
this primary act of faith because it is avowedly and 
deliberately set aside by the philosophers who, at the 
present time, have most influence in weakening or 


k Tertullian, Apol. Adv. Gentes, c. 17. 1 Rom. ii. 1. 


IT. ] of the Conscience. 41 


denying our faith in God. Hume, for instance, still 
acts as one of the most powerful sceptical forces ; 
and there is the more reason to refer to him, as 
his views, or at least the main arguments he puts 
forward, have lately been revived by Professor 
Huxley, and reproduced in a form, and with ad- 
ditions, which cannot be safely, or even respectfully, 
neglected™, Now it is most remarkable to find that, 
especially when thus summarised and presented in 
their essence, the arguments which Hume puts into 
the mouth of his Epicurean philosopher depend for 
their validity upon the flat rejection of that act of 
faith on the part of the conscience upon which we 
have been dwelling. For example, Hume argues, 
in opposition to the supposed necessity of belief in 
Divine Providence, that it is sufficient if he regulates 
his behaviour by his experience of past events, which 
he acknowledges to be on the whole in favour of 
virtue and discouraging to vice. But ‘if, he says, 
‘you affirm that, while a divine providence is 
allowed, and a supreme distributive justice in the 
universe, I ought to expect some more particular 
reward of the good, and punishment of the bad, 
beyond the ordinary course of events, I here find 
the same fallacy which I have before endeavoured 
to detect. You persist in imagining, that if we grant 
that divine existence for which you so earnestly 
contend, you may safely infer consequences from 


m Professor Huxley on Hume, pp. 154-156; Hume's “ssays, 
edited by Green and Grose, vol. ii. pp. 115, 116. 


42 The Faith [ Lect. 


it, and add something to the experienced order of 
nature, by arguing from the attributes you ascribe 
to your gods. You seem not to remember that all 
your reasonings on this subject can only be drawn 
from effects to causes; and that every argument, 
deduced from causes to effects, must of necessity be 
a gross sophism; since it is impossible for you to 
know anything of the cause, but what you have 
antecedently not inferred, but discovered to the full, 
in the effect.’ ‘ Are there, he concludes, ‘ any marks 
of a distributive justice in the world? If you answer 
in the affirmative, I conclude that since justice here 
exerts itself, it is satisfied. If you reply in the 
negative, I conclude that you have then no reason 
to ascribe justice, in your sense of it, to the gods. 
If you hold a medium between affirmation and 
negation, by saying that the justice of the gods at 
present exerts itself in part, but not in its full 
extent, I answer that you have no reason to give it 
any particular extent, but only so far as you see it, 
at present, exert itself,’ 

Such is the argument which has been recently 
revived, and presented to us as the philosophical 
reply to the arguments of Bishop Butler’s Analogy. 
And allowing its supposition, that we are limited to 
the principles of scientific reason, and that these 
must be based on actual experience, its force is 
manifest. ‘T’o quote from its modern expositor 2— 


n Professor Huxley on Hume, p. 156. 


aa of the Conscience. 43 


‘As nature is our only measure of the attributes of 
the Deity in their practical manifestation, what 
warranty is there for supposing that such measure is 
anywhere transcended? That the other side of 
nature, if there is one, 1s governed on different prin- 
ciples from this side?’ Certainly a very imperfect 
warranty, if nature, in the limited sense here ap- 
parently understood, be our only measure. But that is 
the great question. These arguments are based upon 
the cold and impassive denial of the validity and 
authority of the dictates of conscience. They raise 
this direct question—and it is at once the danger and 
the merit of Hume that he does not shrink from 
raising it—are you prepared to believe, not in mere 
speculative opinions, but in certain great practical con- 
victions which are beyond the reach of all experience 
and verification? Are you prepared to say that 
although, within the lmits of human observation, 
virtue is not adequately rewarded, and vice not 
adequately punished, yet you believe that they will 
be, and are you resolved to build both your acts 
and your thoughts on that belief, and on the conse- 
quences which follow from it? That is the real 
issue, and the whole force exerted by the argument 
of Hume depends upon the answer which each soul 
makes to it. If, like the Psalmists and the Prophets, 
you are prepared, in spite of all apparent contra- 
dictions, to believe in the absolute supremacy of 
right over wrong, in the blessedness of the righteous 
and the misery of the wicked, you have then per- 


44 The Faith [ Lect. 


formed a momentous act of faith, which opens up to 
you an entirely new world, and respecting which it 
is hardly too much to say, in Hume’s own words, 
that it ‘subverts all the principles of the under- 
standing, and gives a man a determination to 
believe what is most contrary to custom and ex- 
perience °.. -But if you deny this, you have said 
nothing less than that in the constitution of the 
universe there is no complete sanction for morality ; 
and if, in Hume’s phrase, you hold a medium between 
affirmation and negation, you have at least thrown 
over morality the blighting influence of uncertainty ; 
you have cut one of the sinews of moral action, and 
you have made a great step towards realismg St. 
Paul’s conviction, that if men will not retain God in 
their knowledge, they will be given over to a repro- 
bate mind. 

That which has been called ‘the categorical im- 
perative’ of the conscience thus amounts to an 
imperative requirement from us of the first great 
act of faith—that of belief in a righteous and 
omnipotent God. It has, indeed, been urged of late 
with much confident reiteration that considerations 
such as we have been reviewing are satisfied by 
recognising the existence of a power independent of 
ourselves, which enforces righteousness and truth as 
the paramount law of the universe. Now even this 
conviction, if it is to be more than a mere generality 


© Professor Huxley on Hume, p. 141. 


IT. of the Conscience. 45 


and is to be applied completely to individual ex- 
perience, transcends, as has been shewn, all the limits 
of experience, and takes us at once into that region 
of things not seen from which it is the professed 
object of this paradoxical exposition to debar us. 
But the question, whether it is a sufficient account 
of the matter, depends again on the degree of vivid- 
ness and thoroughness which we recognise in the 
dictates of the conscience. Is it simply to the 
supremacy of a general law of righteousness that 
conscience bears witness? That is the great enquiry 
on which it is necessary to insist; and the answer 
to it cannot be too rigidly scrutinized, for upon that 
answer mainly depend the momentous moral and 
religious convictions now in question. They depend 
upon it by virtue of this consideration—that no 
influence which is not itself a personal one can pos- 
sibly execute a complete judgment upon the acts, the 
thoughts, and the impulses of a person. It may be 
confidently affirmed that there is no sentence ever 
pronounced, whether by natural or human law, in 
which we do not feel compelled to recognise, if not 
a certain injustice, at least a certain inadequacy, a 
Jack of exact adaptation to the circumstances of the 
individual. In the case of almost every criminal 
who is punished, human law is either too harsh or 
not harsh enough, and it is sometimes almost as 
rough in its operation as the law of nature, and as 
irrespective of personal merits. Similar injustice 
must always result when personal merits or demerits 


46 The Foath [ Lect. 


are subjected to the action of impersonal agencies, 
powers, or laws. According to the old principle, 
that like is only known by like, so like can only be 
judged by like; and none but a personal being, 
endued with our morality and intelligence, can be 
conceived as entering fully into the infinite variations 
of mind and heart and brain, on which the conduct 
of every human being depends. 

If, in fact, in some agony of the spirit, some crisis 
of life, the exclamation of the Psalmist is forced from 
us, ‘Judge me, O God,’ to what do we appeal? Is 
it to a mere law, a force which asserts itself inde- 
pendently of all individual considerations, or is it 
to a power which, as we believe with the whole 
force of our souls, 1s capable of taking into account 
all the details of our personal condition, of making 
allowance for them, having compassion on our weak- 
nesses and forgiving our sins? Is it to ‘a power, 
not ourselves, that makes for righteousness, or is 
it to a Being revealed to us with what may seem 
such logical inconsistency, but with such practical 
harmony, as ‘the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness 
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving 
iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by 
no means clear the guiltyP’? In utterances like 
these the revelation of the Scriptures penetrates to 
depths of the human heart which are invariably left 


Pp Exodus xxxiy. 6, 7. 


IT. ] of the Conscience. 47 


untouched—sometimes with a characteristic compla- 
cence—by those who are content to refer us to mere 
laws and potencies. ‘To the miseries of conscious sin 
and guilt such philosophies have nothing to say. 
But it is in these moral depths that faith strikes its 
roots. The more these convictions and demands of 
the conscience are realised, the more are we forced 
back on the necessity of redemption, and the more 
are we compelled to hope, and trust, and crave, for 
some deliverance which is beyond all natural capacity 
and experience. The faith on which the primary 
convictions of morality depend compels us to reach 
out towards invisible and distant realities, and to 
look, like the Jewish prophets, for the full revelation 
of One, who will execute judgment and justice on 
the earth. A whole vista of prophecy is suggested 
when we thus contrast the infinite, the subtle—in a 
word the personal—demands of the conscience with 
the rude facts of the present life; and we seem to 
see the possibility, or the verisimilitude, opened to us 
of that series of revelations, in which the Christian 
and Jewish Scriptures at once predicted and fulfilled 
these imperious moral necessities. But in proportion 
to the force with which this necessity of personal 
judgment and personal redemption is realised, is the 
witness which the conscience affords to the existence 
of God, and to His moral relation to us. If the 
highest impulses of life are not to be balked, if 
the deepest dictates of morality are not illusive, 
some Being there must be, who is at all events 


48 The Fath [ Lecr. 


so far personal, as to be able to deal justly with 
persons. 

It may be worth while to observe that, so far as 
these considerations are just, they tend to establish, 
not merely the validity of our belief in a personal 
God, but its naturalness, and a sufficient reason for 
its prompt and unhesitating acceptance by the mass 
of men. By some modern writers 4%-it has been made 
a ground of objection to Christian truth that its 
primary assumption—that of a living God in whom 
we live and move and have our being—requires such 
elaborate arguments to establish it. Now it is the 
peculiar characteristic of first principles that they are 
the most difficult of all others to prove, or even to 
defend in argument, but that they commend them- 
selves instinctively to common sense, or to the general 
apprehension of sound minds. They correspond to 
experience in proportion to its simplicity and direct- 
ness, and their real strength lies in their being the 
true interpretation of a natural instinct. This is 
preeminently true of the highest principle of all; 
and in the present day it is of great importance 
to bear this consideration in mind. When, indeed, 
arguments are elaborated in contravention of these 
primary truths, it is at least respectful to objectors, 
even if not necessary, to be elaborate in reply; and 
it is rather unreasonable it should be made a matter 
of complaint against theologians that they are willing 
to meet their antagonists on their own grounds, and 


a4 Mr, M. Arnold, in Literature and Dogma, ch. x, and passim. 


Il.] of the Conscience. 49 


with their own weapons. But the Christian minister 
is not dependent on such arguments, nor is the 
vitality of the Christian Faith derived from their 
validity. If we can shew, by such considerations 
as have now been offered, that the primary truths of 
faith are in harmony with the most imperative con- 
victions of the human conscience, we have shewn 
that they are natural; or, in other words, that it is 
natural for men, unless sophisticated by previous 
aroument, to believe in them. When those argu- 
ments are raised, when the difficulties which reason 
readily suggests are pressed on us, it is necessary to 
confront them. Above all, if the moral consciousness 
of an individual or of a community has become en- 
feebled, and men are no longer duly sensible of the 
terrible heights and depths of morality, there is a 
barrier between them and religious truth which can 
only be overthrown by reviving their apprehension 
of those awful realities. But in proportion as the 
conscience is quickened, it is natural men should 
believe in a personal God who judges them, and who 
will punish and reward them. They do it without 
reasons, and by the instinct of nature; and it is to 
this instinct that the Christian pastor may always 
most safely appeal. We have no need as a rule 
to prove the existence of a personal God to a man 
who is duly conscious of moral evil. We may assume 
His existence, as we do that of the sun, and it will 
be acknowledged by virtue of the mere constitution 
of human nature. 
E 


50 The Faith [ Lecr. 


Similar considerations, doubtless, apply to the argu- 
ment from the general order of nature and from the 
constitution of the human intellect. The impulse to 
infer the existence of a personal God from them is 
natural ; such an inference is on the whole the most 
in conformity with the facts of the case, and we may 
rest assured that, independently of formal argument, 
it will always commend itself to the common sense 
of sound minds. We cannot too strongly rely on 
the truth of St. Paul’s statement that ‘the invisible 
things of Him from the creation of the world are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that 
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead ; so 
that men are without excuse’.’ Philosophy raises 
objections, and it is our business to endeavour to 
answer them ; but nature, after all, is stronger than 
philosophy, and the perplexities of thought will 
never suppress the dictates of conscience and of 
simple reason. Modern philosophy, indeed, has com- 
mitted something like an act of suicide in respect to 
this question of the existence of God. For it con- 
fesses, or rather asserts, that precisely the same difh- - 
culties apply to a belief in the substantiality of the 
human soul itself. The modern expositor of Hume, 
who revives that great sceptic’s objections to the 
existence of God, revives also his objections to the 
doctrine of immortality, and says that ‘ having 
arrived at the conclusion that the conception of 
a soul, as a substantive thing, is a mere fioment 


r Rom,12 20. 


IT. ] of the Conscience. 51 


of the imagination, and that whether it exists or not 
we can by no possibility know anything about it, 
the enquiry as to the durability of the soul may seem 
superfluous®.’ Such a statement may well be regarded 
as the reductio ad absurdum of all these intellectual 
objections to the great truths of Revelation. When 
such arguments, candidly and severely pushed to 
their conclusion, come to this, that they leave us in 
doubt whether there is any substantiality in our own 
souls, it ceases, at all events, to be possible to regulate 
our beliefs and our conduct by them. The Christian 
need hardly ask more than that his belief in God 
should be as certain as that in his own substance and 
identity, and it now seems definitely admitted that it 
is, to say the least, not more uncertain. 

It may, indeed, be permissible to observe, after 
thus pointing out some of the considerations which 
justify the first and primary act of faith, that there 
is really something intolerable, and revolting to good 
sense, in much of the philosophical argumentation 
with which it is now too often attempted to under- 
mine this great belief. No word of disrespect to 
philosophy or science will be heard in these Lectures, 
for nothing could be more alien from either the 
intention or the sympathy which prompts them. 
Philosophy and Science are the children of Faith, 
and however they may be from time to time mis- 
represented, she can never doubt their loyalty to 
her. But it is a somewhat severe trial of patience 

8 Professor Huxley on Hume, p. 172. 


2 


52 The Faith [ Lect. 


that mental or physical philosophers should confine 
themselves to the facts they can observe within the 
range of their special studies or in their laboratories, 
and should erect the conceptions which they thus 
find themselves able to form respecting the existence 
of God into crucial tests, by virtue of which they 
set aside the deepest moral and spiritual experiences 
of mankind. Those experiences are the most mo- 
mentous of all the facts in the case; and if an equal 
amount of scientific experience and scientific convic- 
tion were treated by a theologian with the cool 
indifference exhibited towards religious faith by 
Hume, and by some modern philosophers, he would 
be treated as almost beyond the pale of reasoning. 
Belief in God has been embedded from the earliest 
centuries in the deepest moral convictions of our 
race ; and a philosophy which is content to criticize 
beliefs thus authenticated, instead of treating them 
as the most momentous premisses with which it 
has to deal, places itself practically out of court. 
On what conceivable principle of reasoning or of 
philosophizing are we to bid a Paul, a John, an 
Athanasius, an Augustine, an Anselm, a Luther, a 
Pascal, a Newton, to stand aside, and to be silent 
on the mightiest of all truths, until a modern phi- 
losopher has reconciled their convictions with his 
syllogisms, or a modern man of science has found 
material traces of them in his crucible? Nay! We 
must ask, with far greater amazement, on what 
ground a mightier Witness still is similarly set aside, 


aT) of the Conscvence. 53 


until philosophy has pronounced that His testimony 
is admissible. In the language and the life of 
our Lord the deepest apprehension of moral truth 
is bound up with the apprehension of God in His 
most personal character as a Father; and this fact 
affords the final practical answer to the objections 
which have been considered. There is, indeed, a 
presumptuous flippancy which deems itself capable 
of distinguishing between the essential and non- 
essential elements in His teaching, and of setting 
the latter aside. But no such presumption can go 
so far as to deny that in His mind and heart the 
two elements were united; and this is a fact of 
more weight than any amount of dubious specula- 
tion. For the purpose of illustrating the nature and 
limits of faith, a consideration of its foundations in 
the conscience has been indispensable. But the final 
answer to all objections against belief in God is that 
the Lord Jesus Christ lived in it and died in it. 

One observation remains to be made, which will at 
once connect the argument of this Lecture with that 
of those which follow, and will associate it with 
the lessons of this season of Lent. So far as these 
considerations are valid, they establish the fact, not 
merely that there is a personal God, of all righteous- 
ness and power, but that we are in direct contact 
with Him, that His voice is heard within us, and 
that in every act and thought of our lives we are 
accountable to Him, and must look alike for punish- 
ment and for reward at His hands. It 1s no matter 


54 The Faith of the Conscience. 


of theory we have been considering, but the most 
vital of all living realities. The Bible reveals to 
us, not the mere opinions of prophets and saimts 
respecting God, but the words He spoke to their 
hearts, and the responses they made to Him. Let 
us not content ourselves, for instance, in reading 
the early experiences of the patriarchs, with the bald 
and abstract statement, now too often to be met with, 
that they believed in one God, or were the assertors 
of Monotheism. It is not as Monotheists, or as 
Deists, that Abraham and the patriarchs are con- 
spicuous ; but as men who, in the depths of their 
nature, communed with a personal God, who, in the 
expressive phrase of the sacred writer, ‘walked with 
God, and to whom He spake face to face, or heart to 
heart, ‘as a man speaketh unto his friend.’ Such is 
the vital character of the primary principle of Faith. 
Under this guidance we are led, as we shall see, to 
anticipate a further revelation from the God of 
whom we are assured, while at the same time we 
are furnished with the conditions necessary for test- 
ing it. But at least we may be animated, like the 
patriarchs, in our daily lives by the conviction, not 
merely that God is, but ‘that He is a rewarder of 
them that diligently seek Him.’ 


LECTURE III. 


THE WITNESS TO REVELATION. 
HEBREWS i. I, 2. 


God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time 
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days 
spoken unto us by His Son. 


IT has been shewn in the preceding Lecture that 
the primary dictates of the conscience afford impe- 
rious reasons for believing in a Living God—right- 
eous, almighty, and personal in His relations to us. 
Ifthe demands of our moral nature are to be satisfied, 
if they are to receive a complete sanction in particular 
as well as in general, in respect to the individual 
as well as in the main course of affairs, we need 
not merely a Power, but a Person, who, by virtue of 
His personal qualities, will be able to judge us 
individually, alike with justice and with mercy, 
according to our works, our words and our thoughts, 
who by virtue of His omniscience will be acquainted 
with all our ways, and by virtue of His omnipotence 
will be able to execute His judgments completely 
either here or hereafter. That this is the natural 


56 The Witness [Lecr. 


dictate of the conscience is, as we observed, no mere 
speculation. To this conviction, as a matter of fact, 
the most earnest moral philosophy has always 
pointed, and it attained its most intense and vivid 
form in that people upon whom, by general admis- 
sion, the deepest moral and spiritual perceptions were 
bestowed. ‘The 139th Psalm, for instance, embodies 
the convictions to which the Hebrew mind was forced 
by its profound apprehension of moral realities and 
necessities. It is a Psalm which makes no reference 
to any external revelation. It appeals to the inner- 
most experiences of the soul; and it bears witness 
that the natural interpretation of those experiences 
is that the soul of man is in contact with an awful 
Being, from whom he cannot escape, who compasses 
his path and his lying down, who is acquainted with 
all his ways, who has beset him behind and before and 
laid His hand upon him. ‘Search me, the Psalmist 
is compelled to exclaim, ‘and know my heart, try me 
and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked 
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ 
Such is the utterance of the voice of conscience 
when its tones are clearest, and when the inward 
ear is least obstructed. The soul which realises 
this inward witness, and thoroughly accepts it, may 
be said, like the Patriarch, to walk with God. ‘If 
I ascend into heaven, it exclaims, ‘Thou art there ; 
if I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there ; 
if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the 


& Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24. 


Iif.] to Revelation. 57 


uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand 
lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.” From 
the dawn of revelation, as recorded in the Scriptures, 
the apprehension of God is marked by similar charac- 
teristics. ‘Noah, says the historian, ‘was a just man, 
and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with 
God »,’ 

If we are to interpret the growth of faith under 
the Divine guidance, and to vindicate its successive 
advances, it is necessary to lay the utmost stress 
upon this primary moral element in our apprehen- 
sion of the Divine Being. It may be said to be here 
that, for the practical purposes of revelation, we are 
furnished with the idea of God, with the very notion 
of the Divine Name. Whenever that idea has been 
mainly relegated to the sphere of the intellect, when 
men have been chiefly concerned to apprehend a first 
cause, or to rise by mere mental abstraction from the 
phenomena of the external universe to the one Reality 
which is before all things, and by which all things 
consist, the resulting conception has of necessity been 
something vast, vague, and intangible. To this 
predominance of intellectual over moral concep- 
tions in theosophic thought may be traced, in great 
measure, all schemes of philosophy which have been 
in opposition to Christianity, from those of the 
Gnostics to the Jewish and German speculations of 
the present century. The understanding soon loses 
itself in the labyrinth of its own infinite analysis, 


b Gen. vi. g. 


58 The Witness > bine 


and distinct apprehensions of the Being after whom 
it is feeling rapidly fade away. But in the Scriptures, 
, by virtue of God’s voice in the conscience, He comes 
' home to men’s hearts, He is felt to be dealing with 
- them in the most central and permanent part of their 
' nature, and they have a real and living apprehension 
_ of Him as a personal Being, with whom they have 
to do. Weare in conscious relation to Him, and He 
is In sympathy with us. His power and wisdom, 
contemplated in themselves, would remove Him to 
an incalculable distance from us; but as a God of 
justice and righteousness He works for human ends, 
and co-operates with the most intense of human 
energies. 

, But imperiously as this belief is dictated by the 
/ deepest convictions of the conscience, one thing 
/ would seem to be requisite, sooner or later, in order 
_ to vindicate and support it, and that is that this 
\ righteous Being should visibly declare Himself. It 
is not indeed for us, in our ignorance, to speculate 
how or when, or to what extent, He should do so. 
But if, up to the present moment in history, through 
all the long struggles, the bitter sacrifices, the baffled 
aspirations, the keen disappointments of mankind, 
‘God’s voice had not been clearly heard, God’s arm 
had not been seen, God’s love had not been visibly 
manifested, the strain upon faith would have been 
immeasurably greater than it is at present. It may 
well be conceived, indeed, that there must have been 
something heroic, and beyond the capacity of our 


Til] to Revelation. 59 


present mortal nature, in the faith which sustained 
the patriarchs and elders, in the days before Divine 
revelation had become historic, and had created a 
continuous chain of evidence to which it could appeal. 
There is something, for instance, profoundly pathetic 
in the exclamation attributed to the patriarch Job, 
‘But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the 
place of understanding®?’ We contemplate him at 
the cutset of all human experience, beginning to 
realise the profound and mysterious complexity of 
life. He is standing, as it were, at the parting of 
the broad and narrow ways. Life stretches before 
him like the desert with which he was surrounded, 
and over which he travelled, with few and rare 
tracks across it, and the path still uncertain which 
led to the most precious of all human possessions. 
The path thereof, he exclaims, is one ‘which no 
fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not 
seen ; the lions whelps have not trodden it, nor the 
fierce lion passed by it. Well might he exclaim, 
‘Whence then cometh wisdom, and where is the 
place of understanding? seeing it is hid from the eyes 
of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the 
air. That, in such circumstances, he should have 
firmly grasped the conviction that ‘the fear of the 
Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is 
understanding, may well be regarded as an heroic 
act of faith ; especially when we remember the extent 
to which men have wavered in this conviction, in 


¢ Job xxvill. 12. 


60 The Witness [Lucr., 


spite of far higher cultivation and longer experience. 
Abraham’s position was not unlike that in which 
Job is described; and when we are told that 
Abraham ‘believed in the Lord, it seems only 
natural and just tt should be added, ‘and He 
counted it to him for righteousness4’ Whatever 
Abraham’s errors, that he should have believed 
God, that he should have recognised the Divine 
voice, trusted it above all things in heaven and 
earth, and that, in reliance on it, he should have 
taken the first step forwards into the new world 
which faith was destined to create—this, so far as 
is conceivable of any human act, merited the dis- 
tinction it received. He ‘ was strong in faith, giving 
glory to God .... and therefore it was imputed 
to him for righteousness &.’ 

, From such considerations as these we are led to 
/ the next great step in the development of faith— 
~ to the belief, namely, not merely that there is a God 
of all righteousness and power, with whom we have 
to do, but that He has given us a positive revelation ; 
that, as the text says, at sundry times, and in divers 
manners, He spake in time past unto the fathers by 
the prophets, and hath in these last days spoken 
unto us by His Son’, This, perhaps, is a truth which 
at the present moment it 1s even more necessary 
to vindicate than those elementary principles we 
have already considered ; for this, unhappily, is not 
unfrequently ignored, if not denied, within the 


d Gen. xv. 6. © Rom. iy. 20-22. f Heb. i, r. 


IIT. to Revelation. 61 


pale of the Church itself, and in the very name of 
Christianity. What, for instance, is the tendency of 
that rationalising theology to which reference has 
already been made, but to eliminate from the Gospel 
and from the Scriptures, as not essential to their 
essence, the assertions they put forward of actual 
Divine utterances, of positive communications made 
to man, by an authority external to him, respecting 
the will of God, the present condition, and the future 
destiny of mankind? Its avowed intention is to- 
explain away that which is miraculous, supernatural 
and mysterious, and to reduce Christianity within 
the limits of what is simple, intelligible, and de- 
pendent solely on the dictates of enlightened natural 
morality. In Germany and Holland, and in this 
country, there is a school of writers who appear 
ready to say, with the author of the work entitled 
Supernatural Religion, that ‘it is singular how little 
there is in the supposed revelation of alleged infor- 
mation, however incredible, regarding that which is 
beyond the limits of human thoughts.’ To exhibit 
the ignorance or carelessness implied in such a 
statement, and the inadequacy of such a con- 
ception of our faith as is at all analogous to it, it 
would be enough to mention one cardinal article 
of Christian belief—that which St. Paul put in the 
very front of his appeal to the Athenians, and which 
is calculated to exert such a profound moral in- 
fluence on our whole nature—the belief, namely, that 


& Supernatural Religion, 4th ed., vol. ii. p. 490. 


62 The Witness [ Lecr. 


the Lord Jesus Christ will be the personal judge of 
every soul of man. But, of course, the vitality of 
such an article of faith stands or falls with the belief 
in a positive revelation from God. No conviction, 
however profound, of our Lord’s moral perfection 
can of itself justify the belief that He will hereafter 
personally judge us. That is a definite matter of 
fact, which we can only credit on His word, or on 
that of His Apostles ; and their assurance on such a 
point can have no validity, unless they speak with 
the express authority of that supreme Being, who, 
as St. Paul declares, ‘hath appointed a day, in the 
which He will judge the world in righteousness by 
that man whom He hath ordained 

There is another point, of infinite importance to 
the human heart, in respect to which we are not less 
absolutely dependent upon positive Divine assurance. 
That point is the forgiveness of sins. It has been 
argued with terrible force by some sceptical writers 
that, in the regular course of nature, there is no 
room for remission of sini It is of the very 
essence of law to be inexorable, and to enforce 
remorselessly the consequences of its violation. In 
view of such considerations it is at least clear that 
we could have indulged no positive assurance of 
pardon, except on the express authority of Him who 
alone can forgive sins. The difficulty, indeed, has 
a still deeper foundation in practice than in theory; 
and it is not, perhaps, by sceptics that it is most 


h Acts xvii. 31. i See Note 5, Appendix. 


IIT. ] to Revelation. 63 


keenly felt. He who has*ever stood by the bedside 
of a fellow-sinner, passing amidst the pangs of a 
remorseful repentance into the presence of the 
Judge of quick and dead, and who has been appealed 
to, with all the earnestness and directness of a soul 
brought face to face with eternal realities, to state 
whether, and why, he is sure there is forgiveness of 
sins, will know how utterly inadequate to the need 
is any answer, but that God Himself has declared 
it. There are only two remedies for these agonies of 
the conscience. The one is to administer to the soul 
the opiate of excuses and palliations for sin; and 
this is the usual resource of other religions than the 
Christian, and of the world at large. The other is 
the express assurance of the forgiveness of sins, made 
on the authority of God Himself. 

It is strange it should be necessary thus to insist 
on the fact that the most precious and vital articles 
in our Creed are dependent upon express super- 
natural revelation ; but a loose habit of rationalising 
the doctrines of the Gospel has spread far beyond 
~avowedly sceptical circles, and produces the most 
injurious results in daily life. It would, for instance, 
be inconceivable that the profession of sceptical, and 
even of infidel, opinions should be regarded with so 
much indifference, even in nominally Christian so- 
ciety, and that laxity in submitting to the obligations 
of Christian worship should be viewed so lightly as 1s 
too often the case, were it not for the wide-spread 
admission among us of the original doubt of the 


64 The Witness [Lecr. 


tempter, ‘ Yea, hath God said*?’ That subtle ques- 
tion, which was at the root of the first temptation, is 
at the root of every temptation to which the soul of 
man is subjected. The men are rare, even if they 
exist, who can deliberately adopt the sentiment 
which Milton attributes to the devil, ‘ Evil, be thou 
my good,’ and who, in the full belief that God has 
uttered a command, can be indifferent to it. But 
they doubt whether He has really spoken. It is 
treated all around them as matter for speculation ; 
and they are tempted to run the risk of its not being 
really true. 

It seems necessary, moreover, to say that there is 
something astonishing in the levity with which 
this momentous question 1s treated by some of the 
most popular religious writers of the present day. 
Christians, for instance, are ridiculed for assuming 
an undue familiarity with God, and for pretending 
to a knowledge of His will and of His purposes, 
such as they may possess respecting each other! 
Now let it be granted that it has been one danger 
of theologians to assume too complete and systematic 
a knowledge of the Divine nature and dispensa- 
tions. It is an error, indeed, which has been often 
prompted, not by irreverence, but by faith. It has 
been stimulated by that principle with which the 
New Testament is instinct, a principle which also 
lies at the basis of modern science, that there is a 


k Gen. ili. 1. 
1 St. Paul and Protestantism, by Mr. M. Arnold, p. 72. 


i) to Revelation. 65 


harmony between the reason of man and the reason 
of God; it has been encouraged by those words 
which perhaps, beyond all others, have elevated 
human thought: "Ev apx7 iv 6 Adyos, Kal 6 AOyos Fv 
7 pos Tov Ocedv, Kat Beds Hv 6 oyos m, But the Christian 
Church and the Christian Creed are not bound up 
with any of the theological systems which have been 
elaborated by individuals, and which by their grandeur 
and grasp have fascinated, from time to time, whole 
churches and successive generations. It is one of 
the commonest artifices of modern scepticism to 
assume that the schemes of theologians are the 
Creeds of the Church, and to charge our faith, for 
instance, with all the logical consequences of Cal- 
vinism. But deep as is the debt the Church owes, , 
for various reasons and in various degrees, to the 
great Fathers and Divines who have endeavoured 
to penetrate into the mysteries of the revelation 
entrusted to her—to an Origen, an Augustine, an 
Anselm, a Luther, or a Calvin—she is independent 
of all of them, and superior to all; and it is at once 
a great injustice, and a great piece of ignorance, to 
hold her responsible for the imperfections of their 
systems. So far as it is simply against such 
systems, or their exaggerations, that the ridicule 
in question is directed, there is no need to discuss 
its applicability or good taste; it is sufficient to 
say that it is irrelevant to the question which is 
assumed to be at issue. 
m St. John i. 1. 


F 


66 The Witness [Lxcr. 


When, indeed, we are charged with presumption in 
discussing the Divine will and the Divine character, 
the whole basis on which we stand must have been 
forgotten. We assume, not that we are intruding 
by our own reason into the awful secrets of the 
Divine nature, but that God has been graciously 
pleased to reveal His nature and His will to us, in 
certain measure, and under certain limitations. If 
He has done so—if there be but a serious probability 
that He has done so—the presumptuousness surely 
is not on the side of those who, with whatever 
human errors and weaknesses, bend their minds and 
hearts to apprehend the revelation, to expound it, 
and to submit to it. It rests, on the contrary, with 
those who disregard it, who treat it as a subject for 
light literary mockery, or who exert their influence 
to divert from it the serious attention of the men of 
their age, and especially of its young men. If these 
elements of the Christian faith are to be called in 
question, let it be done with a due acknowledgment 
of the gravity of the issue. - If our Lord be God, and 
if He and His Apostles have revealed to us, in any 
measure, the will and the nature of God, he who 
disparages or disregards that revelation is guilty of 
an offence against the human conscience and the 
human mind of the very highest gravity. The writers 
of the New Testament do not shrink from asserting 
the tremendous import of the claim they put for- 
ward. The writer of the Epistle from which the 
text is taken, for instance, proceeds immediately to 


IIT. | to Revelation. 67 


warn those whom he addresses of the consequences 
of neglecting the Divine revelation he announces. 
‘How shall we escape if we neglect so great salva- 
tion, which at the first began to be spoken unto us 
by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them 
that heard Him, God also bearing them witness, both 
with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles 
and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own 
will2?’ The consequences which our Lord and His 
Apostles denounce upon disbelief are apt to sound | 
harsh to our ears. But they are at least in full con- 
formity with the momentous character of the truths 
which are proclaimed. If the Christian faith reveals 
the profoundest truths ever opened to human ken, 
those who reject such an illumination must condemn 
themselves to a proportionately profound darkness. 

It is of the first importance, for the purposes of the 
present argument, to bear in mind the full gravity 
of these considerations; for it is only by reference 
to them that we can duly appreciate the evidence 
on which we build our faith in the authenticity of 
Divine revelation. When we proceed to enquire 
into the grounds on which we make this great step 
forwards in the life of faith, we are thrown back, in 
the first instance, upon certain testimony. Our Faith, \ 
indeed, as we shall see, rests ultimately upon an \ 
authority which is higher than that of any human 
witness. But it starts from the testimony of the 
Prophets and Apostles; and such considerations as 

: n Heb. i. 3. 

F 2 


68 The Witness { Lect. 


have just been noticed exclude all reasonable doubt 
respecting the purport of that testimony, and the 
full consciousness of its meaning with which it was 
_ delivered. No serious criticism can question that, as 
-amatter of fact, the Prophets and Apostles were con- 
vinced that they had received specific revelations 
from God. Thus Professor Kuenen, who has be- 
stowed immense labour and learning in order to 
disprove the belief that the prophets under the old 
dispensation spoke with any supernatural authority, 
frankly admits that they all claim to do so. ‘The 
canonical prophets,’ he says, ‘all, without distinction, 
are possessed by the consciousness that they pro- 
claim the word of Jahveh ... the first and the last 
words of the collection of the Prophetical books are 
words of Jahveh; from the beginning to the end He 
is introduced as speaker by men who are persuaded 
that they can come forward as His interpreters °.’ If, 
indeed, there could be any doubt as to the meaning 
of such expressions, it would be dispelled by the light 
reflected back on them by similar statements in the 
New Testament. The question of the validity of testi- 
mony to a supernatural revelation may, in fact, be 
most conveniently considered in the case of the 
Apostles, as it there comes more completely within 
historic observation. If its validity in this instance 
be clearly shewn, we shall have discerned the method 
by which previous revelations may have been authen- 


° The Prophets and Prophecy in Israel, by Dr. A. Kuenen. 
Translated by the Rey. A. Milroy, 1877, pp. 74, 75. 


art: to Revelation. 69 


ticated, and the general principle will be sufficiently 
established. 

There can, then, be no doubt whatever, as a 
matter of historic fact, that the Apostle Paul claimed 
to have received direct revelations from heaven. 
That he wrote the Epistle to the Galatians is 
unquestioned, and in the first chapter of that 
Kpistle he bases the whole authority of his mes- 
sage upon an express Divine commission. He 
claims to be an Apostle, ‘not of men, neither by 
man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, 
who raised Him from the dead.” He certifies the . 
Galatians that the Gospel which was preached 
of him was not after man, for, he says, ‘I 
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, 
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ He is so 
certain of that revelation that he warns them against 
being enticed by any apparent evidence to doubt it. 
‘Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any 
other gospel unto you than that which we have 
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we 
said before, so say I now again, if any man preach 
any other gospel unto you than that ye have 
received, let him be accursed.’ It would be impos- 
sible to express a stronger, a more deliberate, and a 
more solemn conviction that St. Paul had received 
a supernatural communication of the will of God. 
The claim upon our faith asserted by our Lord must 
be reserved for separate discussion, as it stands upon 
far higher ground. The witness of the Apostles 


70 The Witness [ Lect. 


must be vindicated independently; even to our- 
selves their testimony must be in great measure the 
foundation for our faith in Christ; and to the early 
Christians,. before the gospels were written, that 
testimony was the only evidence they had of the 
claim of our Lord. It thus becomes necessary for 
us, in the first instance, to enquire what is the 
validity and force of the witness thus borne to facts 
so completely beyond the range of ordinary human 
experience. - 

Now the more the gravity of this testimony is 
weighed, the more apparent will be the immense 
responsibility which a man takes upon himself in 
rejecting it. In such a case everything depends 
upon the moral weight to be assigned to the con- 
viction under which the testimony is delivered. If 
it were delivered by men who might be supposed 
not to appreciate the full solemnity of the words 
they uttered, by men, for instance, who had an 
imperfect appreciation of the awful majesty of the 
Being from whom they claimed to have received 
communications—if, again, it were accompanied by 
a weak apprehension of the moral gravity of the 
consequences it must involve—if it were associated 
with any marks of hallucination in respect to the 
ordinary affairs of life, or if it were connected, even 
remotely, with any unworthy moral or intellectual 
conceptions, it would justly be regarded, at the 
outset, with the gravest suspicionsP. These are 


P See a fuller discussion of this point in Note 6. 


ITI.] to Revelation. if 


points in which, even apart from the question of 
miraculous authentication, all other alleged revela- 
tions fail. In this place, where the honoured me- 
mory of the late Regius Professor of Divinity is 
still fresh and vivid, it would be equally pre- 
sumptuous and unnecessary to discuss the question 
of the value of miracles as the necessary guarantee 
of a revelation’. It is admitted on all hands that, 
without such credentials, a man cannot reasonably 
claim to be in possession of information beyond that 
open to ordinary men. But it is also admitted 
that the mere exertion of miraculous powers does 
not dispense with the necessity for strong moral 
evidence. We may, however, at least say that it 
proves the person who propounds the doctrine to 
possess powers, and to enjoy privileges, which are 
beyond the ordinary range of humanity, and which 
transcend our measurement. In other words, we 
cease to be competent judges of the full extent of 
such a witness’s ability. He may, for ought we can 
judge, know things which are beyond human ex- 
perience, just as he can do things which are beyond 
human power. But when miraculous credentials are 
sustained and illustrated by the most exalted moral 
and intellectual qualifications, the combination of 
testimony seems to become overwhelming. 

_ The case may with advantage be stated in terms 
which are familiar to English students of theology. 


4 The reference is to the late Dr. Mozley’s Bampton Lectures on 
Miracles, 


72 The Witness [Lrcr. 


Bishop Pearson’s analysis of the logical definition of 
Faith is eminently satisfactory, and is sufficient for 
the purpose of this argument’. ‘Faith, as he defines 
it, ‘is an assent unto that which is credible, as 
credible ’—in other words, it is an assent ‘on the 
eround of testimony, as distinguished from assent 
produced by immediate knowledge or mediately by 
ratiocination. Now, as he says, there are two quali- 
fications necessary in a witness—the one is ability, 
the other is integrity. But ability, in relation to 
this subject, must be taken in its amplest sense. 
It must be held to imply at once access to the 
necessary sources of knowledge, and the possession 
of the requisite capacity for duly appreciating the 
importance and purport of the truths or facts at- 
tested. Thus if we regard the case of a witness 
in a court of justice, it might be convenient to con- 
sider that three qualifications are required for his 
credibility. Our first enquiry would be whether he 
had the means of knowing that which he reported— 
whether, for instance, he was present at the scene of 
an alleged occurrence. The second would be whether 
he was truthful. But a third would be whether 
he possessed the moral or intellectual capacity for 
observing what he saw with due intelligence, and 
for appreciating its import. Now objections to the 
competence of the Apostles on the first point—that 
of the means of information open to them—may be 
regarded as rebutted by miracles. Of their compe- 


t Exposition of the Creed. Third Ed. pp. 1-15. 


IIt.] to Revelation. 73 


tence in point of truthfulness no reasonable man 
doubts. There remains the third point—that of 
their capacity, and it is with this that we are now 
more immediately concerned. 

But it is in this point, perhaps, that their tes- 
timony possesses its chief weight. These men were 
not pagans by birth and education, and accus- 
tomed like Greeks to think lightly of a Divine 
Being, and of communications with Him. They were 
Jews, who had the third commandment continually 
before their eyes, and for whom the very name of 
God possessed an awful and almost unutterable so- 
lemnity. To a Pharisee of the Pharisees like St. 
Paul, the idea of a communication from God must 
have been far more overpowering than it is to a 
modern sceptic. The traditions of his nation, indeed, 
rendered him familiar with its possibility, but at 
the same time enhanced its solemnity. Neither in 
the prophets nor in the apostles is there any other 
feeling than that of supreme awe and responsibility 
in view of the tremendous privilege conferred upon 
them. ‘Woe is me, exclaims Isaiah, ‘for I am 
undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips, and 
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, 
for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of 
Hosts.” To quote again Professor Kuenen’s ac- 
_ knowledgment on this point, ‘We see here,’ he 
says, ‘men who can find no words sufficient to 
declare the might and majesty of Jahveh, who 


s Isaiah vi. 5. 


74 The Witness [ Lect. 


have a deep and lively feeling of their own utter 
nothingness before Him, and nevertheless, in spite 
of the distance which separates them from Him, 
declare emphatically that they know His counsel 
and speak His wordt’ St. Paul again and again 
seems, as it were, to lay his hand upon his mouth 
in presence of the supreme Majesty and unap- 
proachableness of the God in whose name he is © 
speaking. ‘O the depth of the riches, he ex- 
claims, ‘both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His 
ways past finding out! For who hath known the 
mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? 
Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be 
recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and 
through Him, and to Him are all things; to whom 
be glory for ever, Amen", It is surely difficult to 
conceive a mental, moral and spiritual capacity more 
adequate to appreciate the profound import of the 
testimony which the Apostle delivered. 

Now are we not justified in saying that in view of 
such considerations the burden of proof is not, as 
seems often assumed, on the side of those who accept 
this testimony, but on that of those who reject it ? 
Here are several witnesses, respecting the profound 
depth of whose moral and religious nature there can 
be no doubt whatever, testifying to their own 


t Kuenen’s Prophets and Prophecy in Israel, translated by Rev. 
A. Milroy, 1877, p. 76. 
u Rom. xi. 33-36. 


rit to Revelation. 75 


experience, in a matter which they know and feel to 
bear a moral and spiritual import of the most mo- 
mentous character, Can it be considered reasonable, 
is it consistent with common prudence, to put such 
evidence aside on the ground that it transcends 
our own experience, and is beyond our power of 
verification? It is not too much to say that this 
is to a large extent a question of the exercise of 
intellectual and moral modesty. A man must have 
avery surprising confidence in his own intelligence 
and moral discernment who can venture summarily 
to dismiss such statements as St. Paul’s as halluci- 
nations ; and accordingly it must be observed, as a 
matter of fact, that the critics who adopt such views 
display, as a rule, a self-confidence and a serene 
sense of superiority, which of itself is sufficient to 
disable their judgment in the matter. Some of 
them can treat St. Paul as a tutor would his pupil, 
can rearrange his thoughts, can point out to him 
which are important and which are unimportant, 
can indicate where he wanders from his subject, and 
where he has lost the clue to his own meaning’. 
Others, as we have seen, like the author of Super- 
natural Religion, can pronounce that, after all, there 
is not much beyond the range of human thought in 
St. Paul’s alleged revelations, and that we do not 
really lose anything by dismissing them as illusions. 
It is no wonder that men, who can treat apostles 
and evangelists on these terms of mental and moral 


v St. Paul and Protestantism, pp. 150-160. 


76 The Witness [ Lect. 


equality, should reject their claims to supernatural 
information. But those who feel that, in reading the 
Gospels and Epistles, they are communing with moral 
and spiritual conceptions transcending any that are 
elsewhere to be met with, to whom almost every word 
brings home a sense of their own feebleness, sin, and 
ignorance, and of the moral and mental supremacy 
of the writers—such persons will judge very differ- 
ently of the claim of the apostles to be the recipients 
of a Divine revelation. They will feel that the case 
completely fulfils the requirement of Hume — that 
to prove a miracle, ‘the testimony be of such a kind 
that its falsehood would be more miraculous than 
the fact which it endeavours to establish W.’ They 
will listen to such claims with awe, and they will 
either accept them with confidence and joy or will 
reject them with fear and trembling. 

In point of fact, the weight and force of all 
testimony to a supernatural religion must greatly 
depend on the degree in which the witness is felt 
to be in harmony with our deepest moral con- 
victions. No miracle would be adequate to con- 
vince a man that St. Paul brought a direct message 
from God unless he were sensible that, by means 
of that revelation, and in conjunction with it, the 
Apostle was appealing to his conscience, and pouring 
a new illumination upon his soul. ‘If they hear 
not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be 
persuaded though one rose from the dead*. Ifa man 


W Essay on Miracles. Conclusion of Part i. 
x St. Luke xvi. 31. 


III] to Revelation. reg) 


be not overwhelmed by the spiritual illumination of 
the Scriptures, if his whole nature be not stirred to 
its inmost recesses by a Psalm like the 139th, if he 
does not tremble before the heights and depths of 
spiritual realities there revealed to him, even the 
miracle of Easter day may fail to afford a sufficient 
answer to his doubts. In proportion as this moral 
and spiritual sensibility is dormant the faith of 
even professed Christians is but notional and tra- 
ditional, and is destitute of real life and stability. 
A prophet or an apostle who announces a revelation 
from God, and who claims our submission to it, 
appeals to us for trust; and that trust must depend, 
not merely upon the miracles he may be able to 
work, but also upon the moral authority he wields ; 
while this again will depend, not only upon the 
witnesss moral depth and insight, but upon our 
own also. If we are spiritually enfeebled, we shall be 
incapable of appreciating his authority, and shall be 
insensible to the force with which he appeals to us. 
It will thus appear that, in respect to the second 
ereat step in faith, as in respect to the first, we are 
forced back on St. Paul’s principle, that the real 
obstacle to faith is that men shrink from the severe 
moral strain which it requires. They do not like to 
retain God in their knowledge. A man’s belief in 
the existence of a living God with whom he is 
personally concerned depends on the intensity and 
vividness of the convictions of his conscience. If 
he is prepared to acquiesce in an imperfect vindica- 


78 The Witness [ Lzcr. 


tion of right and wrong within his own soul and in 
the world at large, he may feel no necessity for the 
recognition of a personal Judge and Lord of all. 
Even if he admit theoretically the existence of such 
a supreme Being, yet if he fail to live in the 
realisation of it, if his conscience be allowed to 
slumber, the sacred writers who are the great mas- 
ters of the conscience will lose their hold on him, 
he will not be sensible that they speak with any 
overwhelming authority, and he will be prepared for 
attempts to explain away their testimony. As we 
saw at the outset, God is essentially the God of the 
conscience. In proportion as a message speaks to 
the conscience and is felt to touch its depths, will 
it be recognised as Divine ; and in proportion as a 
man shrinks from the intense penetration of that 
touch will he cease to recognize its author. 

It may, perhaps, be objected that to trace the 
rejection of apostolic testimony to this source is to 
pass an unwarranted judgment upon the moral 
disposition of unbelievers. Now, to a certain extent, 
such a judgment might be directly vindicated. There 
are, for instance, dangerous signs at the present day 
of a relaxation of moral tone in the literature of free- 
thinking. There is a tendency to palliate the offences 
of vicious characters, and to treat every sin as atoned 
for by intellectual brilliiancy. But 1t is unnecessary 
to press this unwelcome consideration ; since it would 
be in the highest degree unjust to throw the whole 
blame of his error upon every individual who may be 


IIT. ] to Revelation. 79 


the victim of unbelief. We are all bound up together 
in this matter ; and the sins, the unfaithfulness, the 
lack of moral energy among* Christians themselves 
contribute, to a terrible extent, to weaken the testi- 
mony to our faith. The ministers of God’s word 
must bear their share in this responsibility. So far 
as they fail to exhibit the moral truth and spiritual 
force of that word, so far as they harden it, or obscure 
it, or misrepresent it, they contribute to weaken its 
appeal to the hearts and consciences of their fellows, 
and the result is seen in many an indirect and dis- 
tant injury to faith. It is the mission of the Church 
and its ministers to carry forward the work of the 
Apostles, by bearing witness to certain truths and 
revelations ; and if that witness be in any instance 
unworthily delivered, the force with which the truth 
appeals to the soul of man is proportionately weak- 
ened. It is unnecessary, in short, for the purpose of 
the present argument, to determine where the blame 
or the weakness lies. But it is to some such moral 
weakness, to some such eclipse of the moral light of 
life, that a loss of faith in the testimony of the 
Apostles of Christ, and of the Prophets of old time, 
must be attributed; and if faith is to be revivified, it 
must be by an appeal to the conscience, still more 
than to the intellect, of man. 

In short, if we push these considerations to their 
last stage, we shall find ourselves led to a still 
higher ground, on which St. Paul himself explicitly 


bases his testimony. If the voice of conscience is the 
v @ 


80 The Witness [Lecr. 


voice of God, then, in the last resort, it is upon the 
witness of God Himself that faith rests. It is His 
voice within us, the witness of His Spirit, which 
authenticates the voice without us, and affords us 
the final assurance that an Apostle or a Prophet 
brings us a message from Him. So St. Paul declares 
to the Corinthians, ‘I brethren, when I came to 
you, came not with excellency of speech or of 
wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 
I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in 
much trembling ; and my speech and my preaching 
was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but 
in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that 
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, 
but in the power of Gody. That demonstration of 
the Spirit and of power still attends the message 
of the Gospel, though in some respects in a less 
visible and miraculous form. In those words, ‘not 
which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy 
Ghost teacheth2, there still resides that power to 
turn men from darkness to light, to regenerate their 
moral energy, and to make them new creatures, 
which was, after all, the mightiest miracle of even 
Apostolic times. The words just quoted from the 
Apostle are a warning to us, that no ground short 
of this witness of God Himself will suffice to sustain, 
or to preserve uninjured, the edifice of faith; and 
they ought to be especially borne in mind in any 
attempt, such as that of these Lectures, to vindi- 


y x Cor. il. 1-5. Zo Oory ii. 13) 


IIT. ] to Revelation. 81 


cate our belief in Revelation. In proportion as our 
apprehension of His voice within our own souls is 
quickened, in that proportion shall we recognize the 
same voice in His Prophets and Apostles ; we shall 
feel a deepening conviction that they are speaking 
that which they know, and are testifying that which 
they have seen, and we shall finally acknowledge, 
with gratitude and perfect trust, that m these last 
days He hath spoken unto us by His Son® 


a See Note 7. 


LECTURE IY. 


THE FAITH OF THE OLD COVENANT. 


IsaIAH xiii. 5, 6. 


Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched 
them out , He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh 
out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and 
spirit to them that walk therein: I the Lord have called thee in 
righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee. 


IT has been the purpose of the second and third of 
these Lectures to vindicate the two principles which 
are at the foundation of Christian faith. The first 
is the truth that God is, and is the rewarder of them 
that diligently seek him—that in Him we live and 
move and have our being, and above all things our 
moral being. The second is that He has made 
definite revelations to us—that, at sundry times and 
in divers manners, He spake in times past unto our 
fathers by the prophets and apostles. Starting from 
these principles we may now proceed to consider 
the successive developments of Faith under this 
Divine inspiration and guidance; and accordingly 
the subject of the present Lecture will be the 
character of the revelation vouchsafed to the Jews, 
and the nature of the faith which it elicited. It is, 


The Faith of the Old Covenant. 83 


however, necessary to keep this starting-point™con- 
stantly in mind, as it determines the whole method 
of our interpretation of those Scriptures on which 
our subsequent arguments must be based. There is 
a prevalent tendency to reason upon this subject. 
as if all we had to consider were the gradual 
advance of men, by force of their natural faculties, 
intellectual and moral, towards the knowledge of 
God. From this point of view, often unconsciously 
adopted, many modern critics appear to deem them- 
selves perfectly capable of measuring the full mean- 
ing of the Scriptures, and justified in bringing them 
to the test of a purely scientific and rational standard. 
But the whole attitude of our minds becomes dif- 
ferent when we once acknowledge that we are in 
the presence of Divine utterances, and that the Bible 
is not so much a record of the efforts of men to seek 
and find God, as a revelation of His gracious work 
in seeking them and guiding them. From the 
moment that any strong probability of this being 
the case is established, we are compelled to ap- 
proach the Scriptures in a different spirit from that 
in which we deal with other writings. We are 
led to expect that there must be much in them, 
and in the revelation they contain, which is beyond 
the apprehension of any individual, and which, to 
the last, will exercise to the utmost the meditation 
and the experience of the Church. 

This observation is one which needs to be borne 
in mind, not merely in respect to direct assaults 

G 2 


84 The Faath [Lecr. 


upon the Scriptures and the revelations they record, 
but in efforts to explain or to defend them. All 
schemes of sceptical or rationalistic interpretation 
of the Scriptures and of our Lord’s life are based 
upon the supposition that no statements are admis- 
sible and no acts credible which cannot be brought 
within the range of our rational comprehension. 
The most frequent examples of this spirit in the 
present day are to be seen in the numerous attempts 
which have been made to bring the history of the 
Gospels within the compass of ordinary historic 
development and of rational explanation. But if we 
have once reason to believe that our Lord’s utterances 
were Divine, all such attempts stand condemned 
beforehand. The first principle of a sound criticism 
must be a confession of its own incompetence to 
solve many of the problems which a Divine revelation 
must needs present. When, therefore, a commentator 
or a critic writes as though higher culture, or ad- 
vanced criticism, had enabled him to survey the 
Scriptures from the vantage ground of a superior in- 
telligence—when he thus deems himself qualified 
- to transform the whole conception of spiritual truth 
expressed by the sacred writers, to present a different 
view of our Lord’s life from’ that of the Evan- 
gelists and the Apostles, to exhibit ‘the origins of 
Christianity’ with scientific precision, or to discrimi- 
nate between the essential and the non-essential 
in Apostolic teaching—in such a case it is possible he 
may make valuable contributions to our knowledge, 


DY: of the Old Covenant. 85 


but he at once stands discredited as an interpreter. 
We are in presence of words, and thoughts, and 
_ purposes, which are vastly beyond our grasp. The 
course of past history ought to be enough to shew 
us that the methods and designs of God are often 
utterly obscure to all natural apprehension, and that 
the mightiest influences for the future may lie hidden 
under the slightest words, and in the most insignifi- 
cant events. By means of faith we grasp the hand 
of an invisible guide, who has led His people on- 
wards, from step to step, along paths which were 
often shrouded in darkness on all sides; and there 
is no greater danger to which we are exposed than 
that of setting aside, because beyond our immediate 
comprehension, intimations of His will and expres- 
sions of His truth. 

But if, from the point of view which has been 
previously vindicated, these considerations involve 
a decisive condemnation of the rationalist, they 
afford no less valuable warning and advice to the 
apologist. In proportion to a man’s belief in the 
supernatural character of the revelation of the Scrip- 
tures will he avoid being over-anxious or hasty in 
explaining or defending it. His words will always 
be wary and often few; and the objections which 
will disturb him least are that some word or deed 
of our Lord, or some statement of the inspired 
writers, is beyond the apprehension of critics. He 
will frequently feel it sufficient to acknowledge the 
imperfection of his own intelligence and experience ; 


86 The Faith [Lecr, 


and in respect to many difficulties he will feel 
justified in replying : ‘We are not careful to answer 
thee in this matter 2.’ 

These principles afford us a broad and deep foun- 
dation on which the main edifice of faith may be 
erected. They justify us in resting satisfied, for the 
purpose of our argument, with the general testimony 
of the Scripture records, notwithstanding the diffi- 
culties with which they may be beset on certain 
points in their interpretation, or in the history of 
their composition. Criticism has now analysed un- 
sparingly the whole of those records ; and although 
some writers have reached very destructive conclu- 
sions, as was to be expected from the assumptions 
with which they started, the general result is to leave 
unshaken the chief evidence with which we have to 
deal. It is sufficient, for instance, to read Ewald, in 
order to be convinced that the substantial truth of 
the sacred narrative is unassailable, and that the 
really important questions at issue are not those of 
facts, but those of first principles. Ifa critic starts 
from the assumption that any interference with the 
course of nature, as observed in our daily life, is in- 
conceivable, he must needs exert himself to explain 
away all tokens of such interference ; and he may 
often be able to make out a-very plausible account 
of the matter from his own point of view. There has 
never yet, however, been any attempt of this kind 
which did not, by its own confession, leave certain 


® Dan. iil. 16. 


: 4 a of the Old Covenant. 87 


points unexplained. . The Christian interpretation of 
the history is, in this respect, in at least no worse 
a position than any other; while it has the un- 
questionable advantage that it takes the statements 
and narratives of Scripture, as a rule, in the simple 
meaning which they bear at first sight, and which 
they have always hitherto conveyed. Let it be once 
assumed, for the reasons previously assigned, that 
God has spoken to men not merely by their con- 
sciences, but by revelation from without—that His 
voice has been recognised and His words have been 
heard—and we feel ourselves at once in harmony 
with the interpretation which the Bible naturally 
suggests. Infinite care and labour will still be 
necessary in order to penetrate into its deeper 
secrets, and to elucidate the problems which it 
presents. But we may, without hesitation, accept 
it as what it professes to be—a record of Divine 
revelation, and of a divinely-ordered history ; and, 
for the general purposes now in view, we may 
submit ourselves in simplicity and confidence to the 
guidance of its plain and unsophisticated meaning. 
Approaching the subject in this spirit, there can 
be no difficulty in answering the question what, 
as a matter of fact, were the main elements of the 
faith of the Jews. If we enquire, in the first instance, 
into its substance, we shall be the better able to 
appreciate the authority on which it rested. Now 
it is marked by one conspicuous characteristic, re- 
specting which there seems no room for controversy. 


88 The Faith [Lecr. 


The people of Israel lived in the firm belief, handed 
down from generation to generation, that they were 
in actual covenant with the God of their Fathers, with 
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Jehovah 
who appeared to Moses. On this point even such 
destructive criticism as that of Professor Kuenen is 
explicit in its admissions. ‘The prophets of Jahveh,’ 
he says, ‘ who laboured among the Israelites in the 
eighth century before our era, appeal to history to 
prove that Jahveh really stands in an entirely peculiar 
relation to that people. “Jahveh thy God from the 
land of Egypt:” in these words Hosea expresses 
a conviction which recurs in the other prophets. 
Although here the Exodus from Egypt is the starting- 
point, there are not wanting allusions to persons and 
events of a still earlier period from which we may 
infer that the bond between Jahveh and Israel had 
already been formed at that time. When, for in- 
stance, Micah writes: ‘‘ Thou wilt perform the truth 
to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast 
sworn unto our fathers from the days of old ;’ then, 
in his opinion, the covenant between Jahveh and the 
Israelitish nation, which he also dates from the 
deliverance out of the house of bondage in Egypt, 
must have been already prepared before >.’ 

This conviction is, in fact, beyond question, the 
central point in the national faith and the national 
life. Faith in the divine promise involved in that 


b The Religion of Israel, by Dr. A. Kuenen ; translated by A. H. 
May, 1874, Vol. I, p. ror. 


IV.| of the Old Covenant. 89 


covenant sustained the faithful Jew through the 
bitter and prolonged agonies of his people, and ani- 
mated him in his intense attachment to those laws 
and customs, in the observance of which he deemed 
his own part in the covenant to consist. St. Peter 
summed up the deepest convictions of his country- 
men when he addressed them® as ‘the children .of 
the prophets, and of the covenant which God made. 
with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy 
seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.’ 
That covenant was as sacred to the Apostles as to 
the Jews who adhered to the old faith. They ap- 
pealed to it as the very warrant for the message 
with which they were entrusted; and St. Paul’s 
crucial argument against the permanent obligation 
of the whole Mosaic law is based on the unalter- 
able character and essential import of the original 
promise to Abraham*. From first to last, from the 
dawn of the sacred history to the proclamation of 
the Gospel, and from thence to the present day, 
this covenant constitutes the everlasting rock on 
which the edifice of Jewish faith and life is built. 
By an indissoluble bond, stamped upon his very: 
flesh, every Jew was thus brought under a solemn 
engagement with the God of his fathers, and by an 
equally solemn engagement the God of his fathers 
became bound to him. Accordingly in the Decalogue, 
the brief but comprehensive summary of the prin- 
ciples of Israel’s faith and duty, the proclamation 
© Acts iii. 25. d Gal. ili. 15-18. 


90 The Faith [Lecr. 


of this covenant is the foundation of the whole 
structure. ‘I am the Lord thy God, which have 
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the 
house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods 
before me °®. When the third commandment proceeds 
to declare that the Lord will not hold guiltless those 
who are false to engagements made in His Name, 
or who treat them as vain, the inviolable character 
of the covenant on both sides stands proclaimed as 
the primary law of the national life. 

There appears something entirely unique, and pro- 
foundly impressive, in the testimony thus borne 
through long ages by an undying race to the convic- 
tions of their fathers that they had received a solemn 
divine promise. That conviction, it 1s important 
to observe, appears as deep and firm in the earliest 
known history of the nation as in its later years. 
The prophets appeal to it as antecedent to their 
authority ; it is the basis of the history and not its 
result. It would appear very difficult to account for 
a conviction of this kind by any other explanation 
than the simple and natural one—that it was founded 
on a fact ; that an actual divine promise had been 
communicated to the fathers and founders of the 
Jewish nation, and had been subsequently confirmed 
by the prophetic voice, and by miraculous signs. 
But to appreciate the force of this consideration, 
it is necessary to examine more particularly the 
constituent elements of the faith embodied in the 


e Exodus xx. 2, 3. 


IV.] of the Old Covenant. 91 


conviction in question. Of what character was the 
God from whom the promise was believed to have 
proceeded, and what was its purport? In order to 
answer these questions, it is again sufficient to con- 
sider certain broad facts which are independent of 
current controversy. Without entering into the 
critical questions which have been raised as to the 
composition of the Pentateuch, there can be no doubt 
that it embodies the sum and substance of the faith 
of the Jews, and of the Covenant under which they 
lived. Their latter history and the writings of their 
Prophets were but applications of the facts and 
principles declared in those five sacred books—illus- 
trations of them, and inspired comments upon them. 
They constituted specifically the Law, the original 
and unalterable basis of Jewish life and belief. On 
this foundation, as a matter of fact, the whole fabric 
with which we have to deal has been raised ; and 
the primary conceptions here presented constitute 
the great facts for which we have to account. 

What then, let us ask, is the opening revelation 
of the Book of the Covenant? It is conveyed in 
that first chapter of the book of Genesis, around 
which, for the last generation or two, so warm a 
controversy has raged, and which still seems to 
be regarded in some quarters as offering grave diffi- 
culties to the claims of the Scriptures. Perhaps 
theologians are as much responsible for some of these 
difficulties as men of science, but under a large 
and generous treatment of the subject it will not 


92 The Faith [ Lect. 


only be seen that they disappear, but the chapter 
in question will be found one of the most pregnant 
revelations in the whole compass of the Scriptures. 
It displays before us a sublime vision of the 
creation of the heavens and the earth by the word 
of God. The sacred writer takes us back beyond 
all time, carries us in thought away from the earth 
on which we stand, above the height and beneath 
the depth, and reveals to us one Almighty God, 
who, by His mere will, called into being all the 
marvels of earth, and sea, and heaven. He passes 
in brief, but comprehensive, review every element 
of the external world—the light and the darkness, 
the clouds above and the water below, the dry land, 
the grass, the herbs, and the trees, the two great 
lights and the innumerable constellations of the 
heavens, the moving creature that hath life in the 
water, in the air, and on the land; and finally man, 
the most perfect of all creatures, and the master 
of them all; and as scene after scene passes before 
us, until the whole compass of nature has been re- 
viewed, we hear in impressive reiteration the words, 
‘God said,’ and ‘It was so. A heathen writer has 
confessed the sublimity of the simple sentence, ‘ God 
said, Let there be light, and there was light,’ and 
it 1s obvious what an amazing idea of the Divine 
power and wisdom they convey to us. In intrinsic 
grandeur of conception they may well be compared 
with that sublime and awful chapter in the book of 
Job, where we read how the Lord answered Job 


IV.] of the Old Covenant. 93 


out of the whirlwind, and said: ‘Where wast thou 
when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, 
if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the 
measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath 
stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the 
foundations thereof fastened? or who hath laid the 
corner-stone thereof; when the morning stars sang 
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy f?’ 
It was a description and a demand which might well 
cause the patriarch, as is said, to abhor himself, 
to lay his hand upon his mouth, and to repent in 
silence, and in dust and ashes. But there is some- 
thing even more full of awe in the simple declaration 
that all these marvellous creations were called into 
being by the mere word and will of God. 

Such is the main effect and substantial revelation 
of this chapter; and it may be well to observe 
that, when regarded from this point of view, the 
course of modern discovery, so far from diminishing 
its instructiveness, tends vastly to enhance it. If 
this be the main purpose of the sacred writer, it 
becomes a wholly subordinate question whether the 
discoveries of science respecting the past history of 
the globe correspond exactly to his narration. That 
was not the matter with which he was immediately 
concerned. The particular order in which the phe- 
nomena of nature are reviewed is no way essential 
to the exhibition of the great religious truth which 
it is the object of the writer to impress upon us. 


f Job xxxviii. 4-7. 


94 The Faith [ Lect. 


This, however, renders it the more remarkable that, 
if the narration be taken in that broad and simple 
sense in which it is obviously intended, it is so far 
from being inconsistent with the revelations of 
science, that it might far more justly be regarded 
as a most comprehensive and expressive summary of 
their main result. The law of an orderly succession 
in creation, from lower types of nature to the higher, 
on which science now so urgently insists, is here con- 
spicuously expressed. But, at all events, the more we 
learn in these days of the antiquity, the complexity, 
the infinity of nature, the more wonderful and im- 
pressive must that reiterated declaration sound to 
our ears, ‘God said,’ and ‘ It was so. The astronomer 
revealing a universe, compared with which the globe 
on which we live is but an inappreciable point, the 
student of the microscope displaying a not less end- 
less series of worlds within our own, the geologist 
unravelling the records of an almost interminable 
succession of life—each is but displaying a com- 
mentary which enables us the better to realize © 
the majesty of that God, who was before all things, 
and by whom all things consist, who speaks and 
it 1s done, who commands and it stands fast. 
This opening chapter of revelation is, in short, 
most properly considered, not as a revelation of 
nature, but as a revelation of God. All the wonders 
of nature are reviewed and displayed so as to reflect 
the power and majesty of that great Being who 
created them. Such is the grand revelation with 


IV.] of the Old Covenant. 95 


which the Book of the Covenant opens; and it is 
in this profound realisation of God that the founda- 
tions of that Covenant were laid 8. 

Now with respect to the practical effect of the 
revelation of God thus conveyed to us, we are not 
left to our own speculation. We can appeal to 
the evidence of fact in a singularly interesting 
form. It was the custom in the Jewish Church 
to read in their synagogues selections from the 
prophets, illustrating the several portions of the 
Law. Accordingly, when the opening chapters of 
Genesis were read, that which we may call the second 
lesson of the synagogue was from the 5th verse 
of the 42nd chapter of Isaiah to the roth verse of 
the 43rd. We there possess what was regarded by 
the Jews as the practical commentary on the com- 
mencement of the book of Genesis ; and what is the 
burden of that great prophecy? It is that of the 
opening verses, which have been taken as the text 
of this Lecture. It proclaims a message from the 
Creator :—‘ Thus saith God the Lord, He that 
created the heavens and stretched them out, He that 
spread forth the earth and that which cometh out 
of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon 
it, and spirit to them that walk therein. So far 
we have a summary of the first chapter of Genesis, 
and an application of it to the purpose just indicated 
—the description of God. But the prophet is com- 
missioned to announce what this Lord, the Creator 


& See Note 7 A. 


96 The Faith [Lecr. 


of heaven and earth, saith to his Servant, and to 
the people of Israel so far as they were one with 
that Servant, and to what purpose this revelation 
of His infinite power and wisdom is to be applied. 
‘Thus, he proceeds, ‘saith God the Lord... I 
the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and 
will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and will 
give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light 
of the Gentiles’ Throughout the Scriptures no 
orander or more marvellous utterance is to be found. 
If the opening revelation of the book of Genesis 
be overwhelming in its awful majesty, not less 
overpowering in its graciousness is the assurance 
here conveyed, that the people of Israel were in 
covenant with the Almighty Creator, and were privi- 
leged to appropriate all that awe, all that might 
and majesty, as bestowed upon themselves, for their 
righteousness, their support, and their protection, 
and that they were thus to become ‘a light of the 
Gentiles’ —the instruments as they have undoubtedly 
been, of an universal moral enlightenment. 

Consider, for a moment, what a very different 
effect such a revelation as we have been contem- 
plating might have produced. The Psalmist, in 
one place, describes the natural influence of such 
contemplations, ‘When I consider Thy heavens, 
the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars 
which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that 
Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that 
Thou visitest him } 2’ If, without any condescension 


A OPeeyits sie: 


IV.] the Old Covenant. 97 


to our weakness, God were simply to stand before 
us in His majesty as a Creator, ‘the spirit would 
fail before Him, and the souls which He has madei’ 
The mere facts of nature, such as earthquakes, 
storms, and eclipses have been, to the vast majority 
of mankind a source of overpowering terror, driving 
them to all the devices of superstition. How much 
more terrible would be the naked vision of Him, 
whose voice is the thunder, at.whose look the earth 
trembles, at whose touch the hills smoke. The 
enemies of religion have sometimes denounced it as a 
device of priests and kings to keep men in subjection ; 
they have alleged that it tends to make men timorous, 
and deprives them of independence. It is perfectly 
true that it has often done so, and that in some 
cases it does so still at the present day, especially 
in heathen countries. It is also true that it must 
of necessity have this effect, so far as God is simply 
represented to men in the character of an Almighty 
Creator. But how completely is the effect reversed, 
when we add to that revelation these wonderful 
words, ‘I, the Lord, have called thee in righteous- 
ness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee.’ 
From the moment that message is received into 
the heart, everything there is of awe, might, and 
majesty in the revelation of God becomes the source 
of confidence, hope, security, and dignity, in the soul 
of man. The power and wisdom revealed to us in 
the record of creation become our refuge and our 
i Ts, lvii. 16. 


H 


98 | The Faith of [ Lect. 


strength; they expel from the mind all selfish fear, 
they lift it out of all slavery, they bestow on it an 
independence not less than that of the will of God, 
they assure us that we are superior to heaven and 
earth, to death and hell, and to all created things. 
He who can say, ‘The Lord is on my side,’ must 
at least add, ‘I will not fear what man can do 
unto mek ;’ but he may also stand unshaken in soul 
amidst the shock of worlds. 

We thus perceive, that in the first chapter of his 
work, the Hebrew lawgiver established the founda- 
tion on which he could rear the edifice of an indepen- 
dent, a righteous and a true, because a fearless 
people. He brought them a message from God, and 
they asked him, Who is the Lord? and he answered, 
‘He that created the heavens, and stretched them 
out, He that spread forth the earth and that which 
cometh out of it, He that giveth breath unto the 
people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein ;’ 
and ‘thus’ he added, in other words from the same 
passage! ‘Thus saith the Lord that created thee, 
O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear 
not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee 
by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest 
through the waters, I will be with thee; and through 
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; when thou 
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For Iam the 
Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.’ 


k Py. exvili. 6. 1 Tsaiah xliii. 1. 


IV.| the Old Covenant. 99 


There are thus these two primary elements in 
the faith of the Jews—first, the belief in a God who 
made the heavens and the earth ; and secondly, 
the belief that, if we submit ourselves to His will, 
He graciously exerts His might, wisdom, and right- 
eousness for our salvation, and that He lifts us 
into fellowship with Himself. This conviction is, in 
fact, implied in a striking and pregnant expression 
in the first chapter of Genesis itself. We read that 
God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our 
likeness.’ In what was that likeness to consist? It 
is explained as consisting in a resemblance to those 
very attributes which had just been so gloriously 
manifested. ‘ Let them have dominion over the fish 
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the 
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping 
thing that creepeth upon the earth” ‘God blessed 
them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and 
multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it, 
and have dominion. What words are these to be 
addressed to so weak and feeble a creature, and what 
a source of confidence, hope, and conscious power do 
they not afford! How deeply this teaching entered 
into the spirit of the Jews is shewn by the Psalms. 
There is no more striking instance than the Psalm ™ 
which is read at the commencement of morning 
‘service. It recites how ‘the Lord is a great God, 
and a great King above all gods, that ‘in His hand 
are all the corners of the earth, and the strength of 

m Ps. xcv. 


HL 2 


100 The Forth of [ Lxcr. 


the hills is His also. Here is the first of the two 
principles just mentioned; and it is indissolubly 
united with the second: ‘let us heartily rejoice in 
the strength of our salvation . .. for He is the Lord 
our God, and we are the people of His pasture, 
and the sheep of His hand. It is this combina- 
tion of principles which is constantly applied to 
sustain the servants of God in adhering to Him, 
and obeying His laws, in spite of all temptations 
and distresses. The Lord of heaven and earth had 
called the Psalmists and the whole Hebrew people 
by their name, and they could follow His call, 
though earth and heaven should seem arrayed 
against them. When, in short, a man can begin a 
Psalm with the words, ‘The heavens declare the 
glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handi- 
work,’ and can end it with the words, ‘O Lord, my 
strength and my Redeemer®, he has grasped the 
essential elements of a true faith, and is superior 
to all powers that can assail him. 

But another momentous element in this faith must 
be apprehended before we can realize its full depth 
and grandeur. The God who was thus supreme in 
his infinite elevation above all created things was 
similarly exalted in his moral attributes, and was 
incapable of tolerating moral evil in his presence. 
The two conceptions of moral elevation and of un- 
approachable majesty are everywhere united. When 
the Prophet Isaiah saw the Lord ‘sitting upon a 


n Ps. xix, 


ny: | the Old Covenant. 101 


throne, high and lifted up,’ the Seraphim who stood 
above it cried one unto another, and said, ‘Holy, 
Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth 
is full of His glory®.’ He is ‘the high and lofty One 
that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, and 
He dwells ‘in the high and holy place?’ By this 
combination the idea of holiness is exalted to an 
inconceivable height, while that of majesty and power 
is invested with the intensest moral significance. 
‘The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in 
all His works4. In one verse the Psalmist exclaims, 
‘Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, 
and I will declare thy greatness; in the next he 
says, ‘They shall abundantly utter the memory of 
thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteous- 
ness'.’ The Divine laws and commands, accordingly, 
of whatever kind, are essentially righteous in their 
character and purpose, and all moral and spiritual 
blessedness is found in the path of them. ‘ Blessed 
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 
ungodly ... but his delight is in the law of the Lord, 
and in His law doth he meditate day and night §.’ 
The privilege of the Jew is to have this righteousness 
revealed to him, and to be thus introduced into union 
and covenant with God. ‘He sheweth His word 
unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto 
Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation, and 
as for His judgments they have not known them *t.’ 


© Is. vi. 1-3. p--Is, lyi, 15, aq Ps. exlv. 17. 
Dera Cxly. 0,7, mPa sini, 2: t Ps, exlvii. 19, 20. 


102 The Faith of [Lecr. 


From this truth, in fact, no less than from that of 
God’s creative majesty, the primary revelation of 
the Lawgiver starts. It has been observed by Lord 
Bacon in how striking a connexion the sacred _his- 
torian passes from the record of the creation to 
a description of man’s moral lapse, and how vivid 
and profound is the account thus given of the moral 
position of mankind". Placed in the Garden of Eden 
to dress it and to keep it, man could not be content 
with this simple duty, but entangled himself in 
speculations respecting what was abstractedly good 
and evil, and as a natural consequence, yielded to the 
first temptation which suggested to him a shorter 
and a pleasanter path to the full enjoyment of his 
hfe. How true a picture this is of human nature 
let the great drama of Goethe, or the last utterances 
of German pessimist philosophy, in Schopenhauer or 
Von Hartmann, be the witness. Such reflections 
should at least suffice to convince us that these por- 
tions of the primeval revelation cannot, even in the 
present day, be too deeply pondered. But apart 
from these profound speculations, there must be few 
persons, learned or simple, who can read the narrative 
of the first sin without feeling that, whether history, 
or allegory, or both, it still affords the most vivid of 
all pictures of their own experience under temptation, 
and a clear revelation of the essential movements of 
moral life. The doubt first suggested respecting the 


u Pref. ad Inst. Mag. at the close. See also his Confession of 
Faith. 


IV.] the Old Covenant. 103 


truth, or the obligation, of a known command ; the 
speculation about it, the subtle suggestion that we 
shall not surely reap the consequences which we have 
been told will follow on its infraction, the dwelling 
upon the forbidden fruit until everything is forgotten 
except that the tree is good for food and pleasant 
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one 
wise, so that we take thereof and eat, and give unto 
others and they eat,—all this has surely been the 
experience of every person in this congregation. 
Not less true to every-day experience of human 
nature is the recurrence of the voice of the Lord God 
when the sin has been committed, the shrinking from 
it, and the vain effort to hide ourselves amidst the 
trees of the garden—perhaps amidst the pleasures 
and the excitements of the world; and finally, the 
persistent excuses with which, in spite of a sense of 
guilt, we attempt to throw the blame of our fall on 
others; and the justice with which, in the Divine 
judgment, both we and they are held responsible. 
Whatever criticism may ultimately decide with 
respect to the human authorship of this narrative, 
its amazing practical truth would alone bespeak a 
more than human origin. When it is combined 
with the first chapter, so as to reveal God to us 
in His character as a God of righteousness no less 
than as a God of power, we have presented to us, 
in brief and vivid imagery, the whole substance of 
the subsequent history and revelation. 

This conception, in fact, of a-God at once, all- 


104 The Fauth of [ Lecr. 


righteous and almighty rendered indispensable, in 
‘proportion as it was realized, the provision of some 
means of mediation and reconciliation between Him 
and His frail and sinful people. Step by step, 
accordingly, as the apprehension of the Divine cha- 
racter deepened, did the revelation of the necessity 
of an Atonement, and of its method, advance. When 
the Lord revealed himself at Sinai and embodied 
in the Ten Commandments the substance of His 
name and His will, He established also a system of 
sacrifices which at once prefigured and interpreted 
the one great Sacrifice by which the one Mediator 
should finally reconcile God and Man. Subsequently, 
in proportion as the Prophets entered more and more 
deeply into a knowledge of the infinite righteousness 
of God, did they also attain a clearer vision of the 
coming Mediator and of His work. For these reasons 
the idea of Atonement tends in an ever-increasing 
degree to become the centre of Jewish faith. A God 
of all righteousness as well as of all power could not 
but be a God of deliverance as well as of moral 
indignation and jealousy ; and the problem over which 
seers and priests brooded was by what method these 
illimitable and conflicting attributes could be har- 
monized in the Divine dealings with men. He, in 
His grace and condescension, vouchsafed to enter 
into covenant with them. But notwithstanding this 
-assurance, what a gulf did not their sinfulness create 
between themselves and Him, and how powerless were 
they to overpass it! Such a covenant, to endure the 


IV.] the Old Covenant. 105 


terrible strain upon it, must be embodied in some- 
thing stronger and more permanent than external 
ordinances. It must be embodied in an Eternal 
High Priest, who should offer one sacrifice for sins 
for ever, and establish the union between God and 
man on the unchangeable foundation of His own 
Divine and human life. 

Now in proportion as we appreciate the transcen- 
dent grandeur of this faith, shall we also appreciate 
the necessity of positive Divine assurances on which 
it may be based. We have the evidence all around 
us, in those eclipses of faith against which we have 
to contend, of the extreme difficulty of retaining a 
firm grasp of such convictions as have been de- 
scribed ; and it was, in fact, even more difficult to 
maintain that grasp among the Jews than among 
ourselves. The very substance, accordingly, of this 
faith constitutes of itself a momentous testimony to 
the fact that it was not based upon mere hopes 
and the conclusions of reason. No purely human 
philosophy has ever led men to sucha height. Its 
attainment is consistently attributed to the express 
promise and interposition of God; and the awful 
conception entertained of the Divine character by 
those who bore witness to these promises, their in- 
tense conviction that they were speaking in the 
presence of One whose righteousness was as a 
consuming fire, gives an immeasurable weight to 
their testimony. The sacred history proceeds to 
record a series of miraculous utterances, all instinct 


106 The Faith of [Lecr. 


with one character—that they are the utterances 
of a deliverer from unrighteousness and from its 
ruinous consequences ; and they are all accompanied 
with vast promises. Abraham, when struggling 
with the idolatry around him, combating strenu- 
ously, as Ewald describes him’, among his nearest 
kindred and in his own house, with the seductions 
of ripening heathenism, and with men corrupted 
by them, is summoned, by a voice which speaks 
direct to his conscience, to leave his country and 
his kindred, and his father's house, and to go into 
an unknown land; and a promise is given to him, 
and miraculously authenticated, which becomes the 
starting-point of a new life to the world—that in 
him should ‘all families of the earth be blessed.’ 
From that moment, as is partly indicated by the 
meaning of the Hebrew word for faith, he and his de- 
seendants become firm and steadfast. They are the 
fixed centre of all the revolutions in the world around 
them. Everything may change, and any apparent 
disaster may happen, but to them and to their seed 
has the promise been made, and it will be assuredly 
fulfilled. They are in the hands of the Lord of heaven 
and earth, who has called them by their name and 
delivered them. Their life is based upon faith in this 
direct promise by a Divine Person; and the whole 
subsequent history is but the development of its 
meaning. St. Paul accordingly discerned the entire 


v The History of Israel, by H. Ewald, edited by R. Martineau, 
M.A. Second Edition, 1869, vol. i. pp. 322, 323. 


IV.] the Old Covenant. 107 


substance of Jewish faith in Abraham, who believed 
God, and to whom it was counted for righteousness. 
It was the mission of the Prophets from time to time 
to revive and deepen the faith of the people in these 
assurances by intensifying their apprehension of the 
nature and the character of God. Under this inspired 
guidance, the true meaning of the promises became 
more and more clear, until it was dimly realised 
that they could only be fulfilled in a Messiah and 
Redeemer. The holiest souls turned more and more 
in prayer and trust to the God of their fathers, 
waiting for the consolation of Israel. 

The law given by Moses remains, however, the 
most conspicuous witness to a great deliverance from 
moral and physical evil, and was the abiding means 
of working out that deliverance in history. The 
Jews, like their great ancestor, were struggling 
against the Egyptian idolatry, and were in danger of 
being absolutely enslaved to it, when the Lord of 
heaven and earth, the Master of all the powers of 
nature, interposed in their behalf, and declared Him- 
self, by mighty signs and wonders, their Deliverer. 
That Jehovah is the Deliverer is the preamble of the 
Ten Commandments, and the teaching of the whole 
Pentateuch. The law, moreover, contains a further 
assurance of deliverance in the sacrifices which are 
ordained for the expiation of sin, thus assuring the 
people, by types and figures, that the one insuperable 
obstacle to their communion with Jehovah would be 
removed. The giving of the law, as is remarked 


108 The Faith of [ Lucr. 


by Ewald, is accompanied by every circumstance 
which could stamp on the mind of the people the 
fact of its proceeding from a personal Deliverer. 
Then first, he says, ‘the great “I” stands de- 
cisively opposed to the “I” of men. ‘This great 
omnipotent “I” thus becomes manifest through 
the prophet, and he and the people bow them- 
selves before it in obedience and trust. ‘I am 
the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the 
land of Egypt. Thou shalt have none other gods 
but me’—here is at once a command, a promise, an 
assurance of future deliverance, and a direct personal 
appeal. Those words,read by the wise direction of our 
reformers Sunday after Sunday, for three centuries, 
in all the churches of England, serve to bring before 
the minds of the people, with the utmost force and 
vividness, those conceptions of a personal Lord, a 
just God and a Saviour, of His direct claim on 
us and of His gracious promise to us, which mere 
philosophy, and even some forms of morality and 
religion, would reject. So long as they are read 
—and may the day never come when they will 
cease to be thus forced on our attention—they will 
bear testimony to the truth, that faith in a personal, 
a righteous, and an omnipotent God, trust in Him, 
and obedience to Him in His personal character, is 
_ the very substance and foundation of sound morality, 
as well as of true religion. 

In conclusion, accordingly, it will be instructive to 


w History of Israel, edited by R. Martineau, vol. ii. p. 129. 


IV.] the Old Covenant. 109 


observe, especially with reference to the subject we 
have more particularly in view, that the decay of 
true faith, and of a vital morality, among the Jews 
is historically marked by a loss of this vivid con- 
ception of God and of His communion with men. 
‘The whole of the internal weakness and_per- 
verseness of the hagiocracy’—to quote again from 
Ewald*—‘ betrays itself in the one small, but signi- 
ficant circumstance of its treatment of the name of 
God. Desirous to maintain the infinite sanctity 
of the venerable name of Jahveh, and fearful of 
degrading it, they ordained that it should never 
be pronounced at all, and so allowed this glorious 
ancient name to he in absolute obscurity behind 
a perpetual veil... The name of the true God was 
now suspended at an infinite distance, high above all 
the present scene of existence. Consequently, ‘this 
God of the ancient community, though men feared 
His name above all things, and desired utterly 
to surrender themselves to Him in deepest awe, was 
in reality ever retiring further and further from 
them into a mysterious distance; and while they 
were restrained by their scruples from looking into 
His face, or calling on Him by His true name, they 
were really losing him more and more; so unde- 
signed was this most significant of all the signs 
of Israel’s last great era. Does not this description 
present a startling resemblance to the efforts now 
so persistently made among ourselves, often in the 


x History of Israel, vol. v. pp. 198, 199. See Note 8. 


110 The Fath of the Old Covenant. 


alleged interests of morality, of law, and even of 
the dignity and sanctity of the Godhead, to divert 
us from attempts to realise His personal character, 
and to enter into personal communion with Him 4 
It was when Israel lost their apprehension of the 
kinship of God with their own souls, when they 
ceased to apprehend their Creator directly as their 
personal Redeemer from sin and evil, when they 
failed to realise that He had called them by their 
name and had revealed to them His own name, when 
the covenant thus became a formality to them, it was 
then that they were on the verge of that terrible 
blindness and hardness of heart, which issued in their 
final and disastrous fall. Let us be warned by such 
an example, and let us cling with all our souls to the 
faith of the Psalmist :— 

‘Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for 
his help, 

Whose hope is in the Lord his God, 

Which made heaven and earth, 

The sea, and all that therein is; 

Which keepeth truth for ever ; 

Which executeth judgment for the oppressed : 

Which giveth food to the hungry. 


** x x ** 
The Lord shall reign for ever, 
Even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. 
Praise ye the Lordy.’ 


¥ Ps. exlvi. 5-10. 


LECTURE Y. 
OUR LORD’S DEMAND FOR FAITH. 


St. MarrHew xi. 25-27. 


At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord 
of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the 
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. ven so, 
Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are 
delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, 
but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the 
Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. 


HAVING considered the nature of faith under the 
old dispensation, its substance, and the grounds upon 
which it rested, it becomes our duty in the present 
Lecture to pass to the next great development of 
faith, as called forth by our Lord Jesus Christ. It 
is here that faith assumes at last its full proportions, 
and finally claims its position as the cardinal virtue 
of man’s nature. The very word started into a 
sudden life in the writings of the New Testament ?; 
and although St. Paul discerned the primary example 
of faith, and the germ of its ultimate development, 
in the obedience of Abraham, he speaks sometimes 
as though it had first sprung into full vitality 
under the gospel. ‘Therein is the righteousness of 
® See Note 9. 


112 Our Lord’s demand [Lecr. 


God revealed from faith to faith». ‘Before faith 
came we were kept under the law, shut up unto 
the faith which should afterwards be revealed °’ 
Its importance, in fact, became more fully recognised 
in proportion as its object was more vividly ap- 
prehended, and as the assurances on which it could 
rest became more firm and definite. By the coming 
of our Lord former promises had been fulfilled, and 
still larger promises were opened; and faith could 
start from a loftier altitude for a still bolder and 
a nobler flight. 

The prominence which our Lord gives to faith 
and the supreme importance He attaches to it are 
still more remarkable. Faith is the virtue on which 
He bestows His highest praise, while it was the one 
thing He declared indispensable for the reception of 
His blessings 4. A striking illustration of the manner 
in which He regarded it is afforded by those occa- 
sions on which His wonder is said to have been 
evoked. In Him that emotion was called forth by 
causes very different from those by which it is 
ordinarily aroused among men. That which occa- 
sioned wonder to the Jews, and to our Lord’s 
followers, was the exhibition of His power over 
nature. The disciples on one occasion marvelled, 
and said, ‘What manner of man is this, that even 
_ the winds and the sea obey Him?!’ It is still this 
characteristic in our Lord which chiefly excites 

b Rom. i. 17. ¢ Gal. iii. 23. 
d St. Mark ix. 23. e St. Matt. vili. 27. 


Vi for Faith. 113 


wonder, as is proved by the common use of the 
word miracle. That word is exclusively applied 
to deeds of physical power, as though the only 
thing which could affect the mass of men with 
astonishment were that which is visible and startling 
to the senses. But with our Lord it is the very 
reverse. He never speaks as if there were anything 
strange or unnatural in the miracles He performs. 
He refers to them, indeed, as ‘mighty works,’ or 
rather as exertions of power, and as intended to 
impress us with a sense alike of his power and 
of his goodness. But to Himself they appear per- 
fectly natural and simple. There is a conspicuous 
absence of all effort about them. His wonderful 
cures, His raising of the dead, His miraculous ap- 
pearances to His disciples, all are performed with 
the quietness and ease which are characteristic. of 
an irresistible force. Any display of effort is a reve- 
lation of weakness ; but our Lord ‘speaks and it is 
done, ‘He commands and it stands fast. It was 
by the phenomena of the moral world that His 
astonishment was occasioned—by its vast capacities 
on the one hand, and its terrible incapacities on 
the other. On the one hand, He marvelled at 
the faith manifested in the appeal of the Centurion, 
who bade Him speak the word only and his servant 
should be healed; and He expressed a similar ad- 
miration at a like display of faith in the Canaanitish 
womanf, On the other hand, when in His own 
f St. Matthew viii. 10; xv. 27. 
I 


114 Our Lord's demand [Lecr. 


country, among His own kin, and in His own house, 
He found Himself without honour, so that He 
could not do any mighty work, save that He laid 
His hands on a few sick folk and healed them, we 
are told that ‘He marvelled because of their un- 
beefs” The faith of which men are capable on 
the one hand, and the unbelief of which they are 
capable on the other—these are the only two things 
which are said to have evoked the wonder of the 
Lord Jesus. These, to His eye, were the only two 
real marvels exhibited during His ministry. 

There was indeed something amazing in the faith 
which He demanded. Of all the efforts of that 
minimising theology to which I have more than once 
referred, none is more extraordinary, none more in- 
capable of being reconciled with the elementary facts 
of the case, than those which would lower our Lord's 
claims in this respect, and reduce His work to that 
of a moral teacher, however eminent. The two 
cases just mentioned—of the Centurion and of the 
Canaanitish woman—may be regarded as the crucial 
instances of the faith He claimed. They are 
thus signalised by His own express description ; 
and that which they exhibit is an absolute and 
unlimited trust in Himself and in His will and 
power to save. Of course, if the liberty be assumed, 
.as is always done by rationalistic theologians, or by 
sceptics, to rearrange the Gospels according to their 


& St. Mark vi. 6. 


Vi] for Faith. 115 


power of apprehending them, and to pick and choose 
as they please among the sayings and doings at- 
tributed to our Lord, it is very possible to represent 
Him as simply a moral teacher. But experience has 
already shewn the futility of attempts to reconstruct 
the history of our Lord in any other form than that 
in which it is presented to us. Such attempts have 
within the present generation been often made, and 
the results are so discordant as utterly to discredit 
each other. The interpretation, on the other hand, put 
upon the Gospels by the Church has from the first 
been one and consistent, and it is in harmony with 
the natural and obvious meaning of the sacred nar- 
rative. The Church alone is content to take the 
records as they stand, to abstain from arbitrary con- 
jecture, and to rely on their inherent truth and 
harmony. The faith, at all events, which we are 
now concerned to justify, was originally based, and 
is still based, upon this simple acceptance of the 
message of the Gospels. If they could be shown 
to be historically untrustworthy, we should have 
to deal with an entirely different problem. But 
while their testimony remains in substance un- 
shaken, as is certainly the case, what we have to 
consider is the reasonableness of the human actions 
they narrate, and in particular of the faith which 
our Lord demanded and elicited. 

Unless, then, the sacred records are completely 
fallacious, our Lord must, from the very outset of 
His ministry, have assumed a position which made 

yy 


116 Our Lord's demand [ Lect. 


an immense claim on faith. He not only announced 
like His forerunner, that the kingdom of heaven was 
at hand, but He preached the gospel of the kingdom ; 
He spoke and acted as its ruler; and He promised 
all blessings and deliverances to those who trusted 
and obeyed Him. It is difficult for us to realise the 
momentous character of that proclamation at the 
time it was uttered; and more attention might 
perhaps, with advantage, be directed to the extraor- 
dinary prophetic power which was exhibited in our 
Lord and His apostles. They announced, before it 
occurred, an immense revolution in the moral and 
spiritual condition of mankind, and their predictions 
have been fulfilled to the letter. We look back 
on those days from the vantage-ground of the 
present. We know and feel, and see around us 
on all sides, what has been the power of Christ and 
Christ’s Church. We behold a great tree, greater 
than all trees, with the birds of the air lodging in 
the branches thereof, and from thence we judge of 
the seed. But those who saw the seed sown had no 
such assistance to their judgment. Even with the 
support afforded by the miracles our Lord wrought, 
it must have needed a wonderful exercise of faith 
to make His promises respecting a kingdom of God 
the basis of a revolution in life and conduct, which 
placed men at variance with the whole world around 
them. Our Lord summoned His disciples to a career 
in which all visible experience would be against 
them, in which they would be despised, hated, and 


Ay for Faith. ib 


persecuted. From the first he never disguised from 
them that such would be their lot in this life; 
and they had nothing but His word to assure them 
of their reward hereafter, and of the ultimate victory 
of their cause in the present world. 

The Beatitudes, for instance, which no one doubts 
to be among our Lord’s most characteristic utterances, 
are very much more than the mere commendations of 
certain moral and spiritual graces, which they are 
sometimes represented to be. They are promises 
and prophecies of future blessings, and they furnish 
‘the substance of things hoped for, the evidence 
of things not seen. When our Lord said, ‘ Blessed 
are they that mourn, for they shall be com- 
forted, He was not merely depicting the natural 
consequences of a moral excellence; He was giving 
a pledge on which sorrowing hearts might rest. 
Still more evidently, when He declares, ‘ Blessed are 
ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, 
and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, 
for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for 
great is your reward in heaven, He uttered a 
promise which in after days, amidst the actual 
bitterness of persecution, must have demanded the 
deepest trust. In a word, our Lord presented 
Himself as the Saviour of men’s bodies and souls, 
here and hereafter. He asked His followers to place 
their whole fate in His hands, and to trust Him 
through the depths of tribulation, agony and death. 

h St. Matthew v. 11, 12. 


118 Our Lord’s demand [ Lect. 


‘In the world, He said plainly, ‘ye shall have tribu- 
lation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the 
world i.” This was the faith on which His highest 
praises were bestowed. It was a faith of this na- 
ture with which He inspired His Apostles, and by 
which they overcame the world. We have to enquire 
what was its justification, and how it was produced. 
The enquiry will be found to exhibit, in one vivid 
illustration, the cardinal elements of faith, and will 
afford a conclusive test of the justice of the principles 
which, in the course of the present argument, have 
been hitherto vindicated. 

It is to be observed, then, that our Lord’s appeal 
starts from an intense moral illumination, and the 
way was prepared for Him by calls to repentance 
more solemn and penetrating than had ever been 
heard, even in the course of Jewish history. John 
the Baptist, who was sent to prepare the way of the 
Lord, is the typical preacher of repentance ; and in 
the deep moral conditions he aroused were the paths 
made straight for our Lord’s advance. There is 
something peculiarly striking and instructive in the 
necessity, thus recognised, of a moral preparation 
before even our Lord, though supported by the testi- 
mony of His miracles, could come forward to assert 
His claim. But when He Himself appeared He laid 
the foundations of His work in similar exhortations. 
He, like His forerunner, is a preacher of repentance ; 
and He probes the hearts of His hearers with a depth 

1 St. John xvi. 33. 


vo} for Faith. 119 


and a severity which lay bare the very recesses of 
the soul. It is one of the strangest, and perhaps one 
of the most characteristic features of rationalising 
writers that this aspect of the Sermon on the Mount 
is so little appreciated by them, They applaud its 
‘sublime morality, they condescend to pronounce 
that, in their opinion, no teacher has ever soared to 
such a height, and they would fain represent its 
moral teaching as the sum and substance of the 
Gospel. But unless a man be made in some other 
mould than his fellows, it is wonderful that he can 
read the Sermon on the Mount without trembling. 
In proportion to the beauty and the force of the 
moral truths it declares, is the spiritual and moral 
ruin it reveals among us, and the condemnation it 
pronounces upon every human soul. ‘ Whosoever 
shall be angry with his brother without a cause 
shall be in danger of the judgment.’ ‘ Whosoever 
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath com- 
mitted adultery with her already in his heart.’ ‘If 
thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast 
it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one 
of thy members should perish, and not that thy 
whole body should be cast into hell.’ ‘ With what 
judgment ye judge ye shall be judged, and with 
what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you 
again. The laws of Sinai, denouncing sinful acts 
amidst thunder and lightning, and with all the sanc- 
tion of the terrors of nature, are as nothing compared 
with this sword of the Spirit, piercing to the dividing 


120 Our Lord’s demand [ Lcr. 


asunder of the soul, discerning the very thoughts and 
intents of the heart, and denouncing the severest 
judgments upon mere words, and looks, and inclina- 
tions. The loftier and more spiritual the standard, 
the more utter appears our own failure to approach it, 
and the more disastrous must seem the consequences 
of our sins. If this be ‘the way of lfe, we feel, in- 
deed, that ‘ wide is the gate and broad is the way that 
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go 
in thereat ;’ while ‘strait is the gate and narrow 1s 
the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that 
find it.’ When the force of this aspect of the Sermon 
on the Mount is adequately brought home to a man’s 
conscience, his only fitting utterance is that of Job: 
‘I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but 
now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, 
and repent in dust and ashes*.’ The wrath of God is 
revealed from heaven in that discourse with a terrible 
calm, which leaves a man desperate of all resources 
in himself, and compels him to cry for some deliver- 
ance from the body of death and evil which encom- 
passes him. 

Let it next be observed what are the means by 
which this intense and penetrating moral illumi- 
nation is produced. We here approach another point 
in which the Sermon on the Mount, considered as a 
typical instance of our Lord’s teaching, is at the 
present day most strangely and flagrantly mis- 
represented. It is the favourite contention of those 

k Job xlii, 5, 6. 


V.| for Faath. 121 


who impugn the faith of the Church that the 
teaching of that sermon is purely moral and inde- 
pendent of theology. ‘It is undeniable,’ says the 
author of Supernatural Religion, with characteristic 
strength of assertion, ‘that the earliest teaching of 
Jesus recorded in the Gospel which can be regarded 
as in any degree historical is pure morality almost, 
if not quite, free from theological dogmas. Morality 
was the essence of His system; theology was an 
after-thought!” Two pages afterwards this writer 
states with perfect correctness, but with complete 
unconsciousness of inconsistency, that Christ’s system 
‘confined itself to two fundamental principles, love 
to God and love to man.’ But is there no theology 
involved in teaching love to God? No theology in 
the belief that God is, and that He is the rewarder 
of them that diligently seek Him, and that in spite 
of all the difficulties, perplexities, and cruelties of the 
world, He is worthy of the whole love and trust of 
our hearts! Why, this is the very theological pro- 
blem which has racked the heart and brain of man 
from the dawn of religious thought to the present 
moment. On these two commandments—to which, 
in the curious phrase just quoted, Christ's system is 
said to have ‘confined itself, as though they were 
slight and simple—-on these two commandments 
hang all the law and the prophets. They are the 
germ from which has sprung the whole theological 
thought of the Christian Church, and to which it 


1 Supernatural Religion, 4th ed., vol. ii. pp. 486, 487-8. 


122 Our Lord’s demand [Lucr. 


returns; and no theologian can wish to do more 
than to deepen his own apprehension of them, and 
to strengthen their hold upon others. With similar 
inconsistency, M. Renan declares that ‘we should 
seek in vain for a theological proposition in the 
Gospel;’ and yet states, elsewhere, that ‘a lofty 
notion of the Divinity was in some sort the germ 
of our Lord’s whole being.’ ‘God, he adds, ‘is in 
Him; He feels Himself in communion with God; 
and He draws from His heart that which He speaks 
of His Father™,’ 

These are strange inconsistencies. But there is 
nothing, perhaps, more fitted to warn a thoughtful 
mind, at the threshold of sceptical speculations, of 
their essential shallowness, than the manner in which 
the vastest conceptions and the profoundest problems 
are thus passed over, as it were, dryshod by such 
writers as have just been quoted. Truths are not to 
be regarded as simple merely because they are simply 
expressed ; and if, as appears to be admitted on all 
hands, our Lord adopted the cardinal principles of 
the Old Testament, and declared that the first and 
great commandment is ‘ thou shalt love the Lord thy — 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” He 
laid the basis of His teaching in the loftiest truth of 
theology. In the preface to one of the most popular 
of recent attempts to supersede the Church’s con- 
ception of our Lord’s life and work, it was explained 


m Vie de Jésus, pp. 462, 77, 78. n $t. Mark xii. 30. 


V.] for Faith. 123 


that the author proposed to furnish an answer to 
the question, ‘ What was Christ's object in founding 
the society which is called by His name, and how 
is 1t adapted to attain that object ° 2?’ But the author 
stated at the same time, as though it involved no 
inconsistency, that ‘No theological questions what- 
ever are here discussed.’ In other words, this writer 
started with the assumption that theology could be 
excluded alike from our Lord’s object and from His 
method, and that it had nothing to do with the 
purpose and the constitution of the Christian Church. 
This is, in fact, the primary principle from which 
attempts to explain away our faith now proceed. 
Around the question whether, and in what manner 
Christ revealed God, the battle rages, and to this it 
continually returns. 

Now we might be content to appeal for the 
decision of this question to the testimony of the 
Sermon on the Mount alone. If we ask, as has just 
been done, by what means the intense moral illumi- 
nation of that teaching is produced, we find that 
it is dependent at every step upon revelations of 
God’s character and will. It is the vision of our 
Father in heaven which is presented to us con- 
tinuously as the lamp to our feet, and the light to 
our paths. ‘ Let your light so shine before men that 
they may see your good works, and glorify your 
Father which is in heaven. ‘Be ye therefore per- 
fect, even as your Father which is in heaven is 


° From the Gratis to Hece Homo. 


12a Our Lord’s demand [Ler 


pertect.’ What is the reason alleged for the secret 
and inward pursuit of righteousness, as distinguished 
from mere external obedience? It is because ‘ our 
Father seeth in secret, and all things are naked and 
open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to 
do. Why are we to seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, instead of taking thought for | 
the things of this life, but because our heavenly 
Father knoweth that we have need of all these 
things? Or why are we bidden to pray, but because, 
if we, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto 
our children, how much more shall our Father which 
is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him ? 
This element, in fact, in the Sermon on the Mount 
constitutes its most precious characteristic, and com- 
pletely transforms the aspect it would bear if re- 
garded simply as a moral exhortation. If it had 
been addressed to men standing alone in their 
natural condition, and if its censures and demands 
had been unsoftened by revelations of Divine grace, 
there might have seemed, as has just been said, 
something almost cruel in its terrible severity, in the 
relentlessness with which it exposes the fatal vice of 
even passing thoughts, and looks, and words, and in 
the narrowness and straitness of the path which it 
marks out. But it is not addressed to men in their 
natural condition. It is addressed by a Saviour to 
those whom he is ready to save, and to whom he 
is revealing that gracious gift of the Holy Spirit, of 
which it was His mission to win the full endowment 


V.] for Faith. 125 


for mankind. Its teaching, in short, is clenched, and 
enforced, and rendered tolerable to our weakness by 
the Saviour's Evangelical promise towards its close, 
‘Ask, and it shall be given you’... For, as His 
assurance of ‘good things’ is interpreted in the 
parallel passage in St. Luke, ‘ If ye, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much 
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask Him Pp?’ 

There is, moreover, one simple piece of evidence 
afforded by the Sermon on the Mount, which alone 
suffices to exhibit the perversity of all attempts to 
deprive our Lord’s teaching of its theological element. 
It contains one short passage, which has asserted its 
hold over the minds of men, whatever their critical 
opinions, as embodying essentially the thoughts of 
our Lord. That passage is the Lord’s Prayer. No 
_ one, probably, would dispute that in that brief form 
of words we possess the very substance of the mind 
of Christ. But in the mere conception of prayer it 
involves the whole principle of our personal relation 
to God ; and its first two words imply the subsequent 
assurance, just referred to, that we can appeal to 
Him as children to a Father, and that we may look 
to Him for direct'and special assistance in our needs. 
Its supplications then commence with the petition 
‘Hallowed be Thy Name.’ If the order of the words 
be any guide to the meaning of a great utterance of 
this kind, we must assume that this petition is the 

P St. Luke xi. 13. 


126 Our Lord's demand | [ Lect. 


most momentous that can be offered by man to God, 
that it is the first step in the spiritual life, that on 
this being granted depend all the other blessings 
which the prayer solicits. Where that Name is known 
and recognised, a complete revolution in the moral 
position of man ensues ; a new heart is formed within 
him, and he lives by faith and prayer, When God’s 
true character is thus apprehended, men submit 
themselves cheerfully to His rule, and become loyal 
subjects of His kingdom, and in proportion as His 
kingdom comes, His will is done. But when we pray 
that His will may be done, we attribute to Him a 
nature analogous to our own in the most distinctly 
personal and human of our characteristics, and at 
the same time express the deepest trust in his good- 
ness and power. We are next taught to appeal to 
God for our simplest physical necessities, for the 
forgiveness of our trespasses, and for protection from 
temptation; while again, in the petition, ‘as we 
forgive them that trespass against us,’ the language 
of the Prayer expressly sanctions that so-called an- 
thropomorphism which it is now so much the fashion 
to denounce. In other words, the Lord’s Prayer brings 
a living God and His personal will into our life at 
every turn of it. Whether it be daily bread that 
we need, or deliverance from the profoundest forms of 
spiritual evil, it is to the good pleasure and the direct 
hand of God that we are instructed to look for it. 
If nothing else remained of our Lord’s teaching but 
this prayer, He would still have conveyed to us 


V.] for Faith. 127 


a comprehensive revelation of the existence and 
character of our Father in heaven, and of our rela- 
tion to Him. 

But this is only a single instance of that which 
is the main characteristic of our Lord’s life. In 
every act and word He is revealing God, and bring- 
ing that revelation to bear upon the hearts of men. 
The most characteristic incident of His childhood, 
that which alone was thought necessary to be re- 
corded, was that, on a visit to Jerusalem, He left 
His father and mother and went to the Temple, 
in order to sit at the feet of the Doctors ; and when 
His mother asked Him how He could give her the 
anxiety of such a search for Him, He expressed 
surprise at her not understanding that He was sure 
to be found in the Temple, His Father’s house 4. 
Such is the glimpse vouchsafed to us of our Saviour’s 
earliest consciousness, while He was still increasing 
‘in wisdom and stature.’ His heavenly Father 
absorbed His whole soul, and drew Him away from 
every other influence to the house and the word of 
God. He is next brought before us at His Baptism, 
and again this relation to the Father is the prominent 
feature in the scene. <A voice is heard saying, ‘ This 
is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased *, 
We follow Him to the temptation—the critical trial 
of His fitness for the awful ministry to which He 
was destined; and in what does the temptation con- 
sist? In three successive attempts of the malignant 

a St. Luke ii. 49. r §t. Matthew 11. 17. 


128 Our Lord’s demand [ Lucr. 


spirit to induce Him to distrust His Father. He is 
invited to exert His own power, to claim a glory of 
His own, to display His special privileges, for objects 
which were not those of His Father's will. He refuses; 
He submits himself absolutely to that will, and He 
comes forth from the trial to proclaim, not His own 
kingdom, but the kingdom of God. 

After this, we find Him, during a ministry of two 
or three years (to quote St. Matthew’s summary) 
‘teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the 
Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of 
sickness and all manner of disease among the people’. 
He exhibited in that short time a character of mercy, 
love, truth, righteousness, which has rendered Him, 
not only among Christians, but even among those 
who reject His loftiest claims, the supreme ideal 
of all that the conscience and the heart of man 
demand. But in what capacity does He display these 
qualities and perform these acts? Is it in the 
capacity of a good man, acting on His convictions 
of what is right, and exercising His own powers 4 
By no means. The essential character of our Saviour’s 
life and ministry is the reverse of this. He insists 
continually on the fact that He is carrying out 
the will of another—of that Father of whom He 
spoke in His earliest recorded utterance ; and His 
avowed object, on all occasions, is to reveal that will. 
Of this the text affords one of the most conspicuous 
examples. When John the Baptist sent to enquire, 


8 St. Matthew iv. 23. 


V.] for Faith. 129 


‘Art thou He that should come, or do we look | 
for another?’ and when He had replied by recount- 
ing His mighty works, He answered and said, ‘I 
thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
because Thou hast hid these things from the wise 
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 
Even so, Father ; for so it seemed good in Thy sight. 
All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and 
no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither 
knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he 
to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him +.’ In other 
words, He was able to do these works, He could 
display this grace and glory, because all things had 
been delivered unto Him of the Father. At other 
times He disclaims still more explicitly any capacity 
to act independently. His highest claims to au- 
thority are dwelt on in the greatest detail in the 
Gospel of St. John; but they are never claims to 
independent power. On the contrary, He is reported 
in that Gospel as declaring, ‘ Verily, verily, I say unto 
you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what 
He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He 
doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise; for the 
Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all things 
that Himself doeth 1’ 

The Gospel of St. John, indeed, is conclusive on 
the point now in question, but we need not depend 
on it to exhibit the paramount influence on our 
Saviour’s mind of His devotion to His Father. The 

t St. Matthew xi. 25-27. u St. John v. 19, 20. 


130 Our Lord's demand [Lecr, 


most critical scene in His life, that in which His 
whole nature was stirred to its profoundest depths, 
and in which its essential principles were put to the 
most cruel test, was that of His passion. Of this 
we have accounts by all four Evangelists, and it is 
evident that the circumstances of this awful scene 
were regarded by the Apostles as of supreme import. 
What then is the chief characteristic of His mind 
at that time? His recorded sayings are few, but 
they are above all things impregnated with trust 
in His Father, and submission to His Father’s will. 
In His agony in the garden He prays three times, 
in terrible earnestness, ‘O my Father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, 
not as I will, but as Thou wilt. O my Father, 
if this cup may not pass away from me except 
I drink it, Thy will be donev. At the commence- 
ment of His agony on the cross He prays, ‘ Father, 
forgive them; for they know not what they do. 
At the crisis of that agony, His almost despairing 
cry is, ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
Me?’ And when the sacrifice is consummated, and 
He is able to say ‘It is finished, He utters that 
prayer of complete trust and submission, ‘ Father, 
into Thy hands I commend My spirit.’ If there is 
one thing certain respecting His crucifixion, it is that 
He submitted to it in obedience to the will of His 
Father in heaven, that the sense of His Father’s 
presence was His one sustaining conviction, that His 


VY St. Matthew xxvi. 39, 42. 


V.] for Faith. 131 


deepest agony was one passing apprehension that 
His Father had forsaken Him, and that in His last 
breath He resigned His soul into His Father's hands. 
To that Father His first and His last witness was 
borne during the time that He was among us as 
a man like ourselves, sharing our weakness, and 
bearing our sins. But the same characteristic is 
preserved after His resurrection: ‘Go, He said to 
Mary Magdalene when He was risen, ‘Go to My 
brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto My 
Father and your Father, and to My God and your 
GodW;’ and He commanded His disciples ‘to teach 
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost’ From His 
first words to His last He identifies His work abso- 
lutely with doing the will of His Father, and re- 
vealing the Father's will and character. 

That memorable prayer, in short, which is recorded 
for us by St. John, is undoubtedly an exact summary 
of the spirit of His life. Its burden is to declare 
that the object of His work has been to reveal the 
name, that is to say, the nature and the will of His 
Father. ‘Father, He says, ‘the hour is come ; 
glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify 
Thee; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, 
that He should give eterna] life to as many as Thou 
hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they 
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
whom Thou hast sent. ‘I have manifested Thy 

w St. John xx. 17. x Thid. xvii. 
K 2 | 


132 Our Lord’s demand [ Lecr. 


name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of 
the world, ... they have known that all things 
whatsoever Thou hast givene Me are of Thee. For 
I have given unto them the words which Thou 
gavest Me; and they have received them, and haye 
known surely that I came out from Thee, and they 
have believed that Thou didst send Me.’ ‘O righteous 
Father, He concludes, as the sum and substance of 
His last desires, ‘the world hath not known Thee : 
but I have known Thee, and these have known that 
Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them 
Thy name, and will declare it, that the love where- 
with Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I 
in them,’ | 

Now the consideration of the effect of this reve- 
lation of God in Christ must in part be reserved 
for the next Lecture, which will deal with the 
development of faith in the history of the Church, 
and its expression in the Creeds. We are now 
concerned with its bearing on our Lord’s claim to our 
trust. But it may be worth while to observe, in 
passing, that we have here a conclusive answer to 
those difficulties which have been raised as to 
the possibility of regarding God as a person—a 
possibility essential to our exerting faith in Him, in 
any satisfactory sense. It is not necessary to define 
the meaning of the term ‘person,’ and, of course, as 
applied to God, it involves what is infinitely beyond 
our conceptions. But our Lord Jesus Christ was 
a person; and He was in a relation which was 


V.] for Faith. 133 


evidently a personal relation with His Father in 
heaven. He could love Him as a Father, trust Him 
as a Father, pray to Him as.a Father, commend His 
soul to Him as a Father. He could speak of His 
will, His love, His good pleasure. In a word, He 
attributed to Him acts and dispositions as personal 
as any we attribute to one another; He manifested 
Him as standing in a relation to Himself, and to us, 
similar to that which one person holds to another in 
this world. This is what we mean, and all we need 
insist upon, with respect to the personality of God. 
It is precisely as real, as vital, as the personality of 
Christ, and just in proportion as Christ's personality 
is realised by us, shall we realise the personality of 
His Father. Philosophy has striven in vain to pierce 
the veil which shrouds the Great Creator, but the 
only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, 
He hath declared Him. In Christ we have Him 
brought home to our hearts and souls in a living 
form and a human relationship. It has been said 
that if God had given a revelation, it would have 
been written in letters of fire in the firmament. The 
principle assumed in the objection is true. If God 
has given a revelation it must be so written that, 
in respect to its substance, he that runs may read 
it, if he will, But how could a personal Being 
be revealed in the mere phenomena of inanimate 
nature? A person can only be revealed in and 
through other persons, and by means of his relation 
to them. The Divine Revelation, accordingly, was 


134 Our Lord's demand [ Lct. 


from the first entrusted to human hearts, and it was 
finally enshrined in the heart of Christ. It has been 
written in letters of fire in the soul of the Son of 
Man ; it was described with tongues of fire by those 
who first read it there; and the Spirit by whom that 
sacred fire was kindled is ever present to fulfil our 
Lord’s promise Y, ‘ye shall know that I am in the 
Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. 

Let us, however, observe that the immediate 
effect of this revelation of God in. Christ, and of our 
relation to Him, is to give the utmost conceivable 
intensity to the consciousness of moral good and 
evil. We are all conscious of the powerful influence 
exerted by our personal relations to one another, and 
by the mutual judgments passed by man on man, in 
awakening and deepening the moral sensitiveness. 
There is a school which would seek in such social 
influences the ultimate source of morality, and would 
rely solely upon them for its development. But how 
vast a moral power does such a school of philosophy 
disregard when it puts out of sight this revelation of 
the Divine society into which our Lord introduces us! 
How infinitely is this social influence elevated and 
intensified when we are led, by this proclamation 
of the Divine name, to recognise that our inmost 
souls are in the constant presence of the Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ! St. John has described the 
result with his characteristic simplicity and force. 
‘That, he says, ‘which was from the beginning, 


y St. John xiv. 20. 


V.] for Faith. 135 


which we have heard, which we have seen with 
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our 
hands have handled, of the Word of life, that which 
we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, . 

this then is the message which we have heard of 
Him and declare unto you, that God is light, and 
in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we 
have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, 
we lie and do not the truth ; but if we walk in the 
light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship 
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ 
His Son cleanseth us from all sin%” Under this 
blaze of moral light a profound consciousness of 
sin is aroused, and the soul is compelled to 
seek for cleansing in the atoning blood of the 
Saviour. 

But it will further be seen what momentous 
weight is thus added to the testimony of Christ, 
and to His claim upon our belief. We contemplate 
Him delivering His message, working His miracles, 
imparting His gracious promises, under what may 
perhaps be described as the most tremendous sense 
of responsibility ever realised. In a degree not 
approached by any prophet or apostle, He calls 
God to witness, at every moment, to His truth ; 
and He utters every word with the eye of His soul 
fixed upon His Father and our Father, the Father 
whom He reveals as all light, and in whom is no 
darkness at all. Just stress has been laid on the 


z 1 St. John i. 1-7. 


136 Our Lord’s demand [ Lect. 


immense import of our Lord’s self-assertion *; and the 
consideration appears to acquire great additional force 
in proportion as we realise the manner in which our 
Lord appeals to His Father in advancing such asser- 
tions, constantly declaring that they are made in 
absolute submission to Him. It is thus that our 
Saviour expressly supports the most conspicuous of 
those claims. ‘ If I bear witness of myself, my witness 
is not true ; ... the works which the Father hath given 
Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness 
of Me that the Father hath sent Me; and the Father 
Himself which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of 
Me >.’ ‘TI am one that bear witness of myself, and 
the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me ° 

Such, then, are the foundations on which Christ’s 
appeal for faith was based. He begins by con- 
vincing men of their moral evil and weakness. He 
brings them into the presence of His Father, the 
God of all light and truth; and there, in the full 
glory of that awful presence, He declares Himself 
to them as their Lord and Saviour, and bids them 
trust themselves to Him for forgiveness, and for all 
spiritual life. It is a matter of trust, and not of 
proof. It is to His word and promise that the soul 
has to commit itself for time and for eternity. But 
when that word is heard in the very presence of God, 
and is felt to penetrate to the inmost depths of the 

@ See Canon Liddon’s Bampton Lectures, Preface to Second 
Edition. 

b St. John v. 31-37. ¢ Ibid. viii. 18. 


V.] for Faith. Lon 


conscience, it becomes impossible to refuse it credence, 
Such, as was shewn in a previous Lecture, has been, 
in substance, the ground on which all testimony to 
Divine revelation has rested ; though in no other 
instance 1s the foundation of that testimony so deeply 
and firmly established as in the witness of our Lord. 
Such, accordingly, will always be the surest course 
of Christian evidence. It must start from profound 
convictions ‘ of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.’ 
It must proceed by the apprehension of God as the 
Father of-all light and truth, as revealed in Jesus 
Christ, and faith is then capable of appreciating 
the witness which the Son gives to the Father, and 
which the Father gives to the Son. 


d See Note ro. 


LECTURE VI. 


THE FAITH OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 


ACTS V. 29-32. 


Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to 
obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised wp 
Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God 
exalted uith Hrs right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to 
give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are 
His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, 
whom God hath given to them that obey Him. 


OUR Lord said to His disciples in His last dis- 
courses, ‘ Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that be- 
lieveth on me, the works that I do shall he do also ; 
and greater works than these shall he do, because 
I go unto My Father®. It was a wonderful promise, 
but it was amply fulfilled in the history of the early 
Church. We considered in the last Lecture the 
character of the faith which our Lord claimed; and 
we observed the immense exercise of trust which it 
involved. But we saw, at the same time, the over- 
whelming authority which was exerted by His deeds, 
His words, and His solemn appeal to the Father 


a St. John xiv. 12. 


The Faith of the Early Church. 139 


whom He revealed. Vast as was the demand He 
made, a feeling like that of St. Thomas may some- 
times arise in our minds, and we may think that if 
we could but have seen Him, heard Him and touched 
Him, faith would have been more easily maintained.” 
But in point of fact it has been otherwise. Faith 
in Him took root more generally, and grew more 
rapidly, under the preaching of the Apostles than 
under His own; and in extent, at all events, they 
did greater works than He in turning men from 
darkness to lght, and from the power of Satan 
unto God. 

This contrast must appear the more remarkable 
if we consider the different circumstances under 
which the appeal of our Lord and that of His 
Apostles were made; for, to our natural judgment, 
it would seem as if the Apostles and the first 
preachers of the Gospel made a heavier claim on 
the faith of those whom they addressed than our 
Lord had made on the faith of the Jews. Full of 
grace and truth, He appeared among His own people, 
who had been prepared for His coming by a long 
education ; and that they received Him not, condemns 
them of blindness and hardness of heart. His appeal 
was in harmony with the whole past history and the 
- existing circumstances of the nation, and had thus 
an immense presumption in its favour. But his 
witnesses, in proclaiming his message to the Gentiles, 
had no similar advantages. Conceive St. Paul, on 
one of his missionary journeys, addressing himself 


140 The Faith of [Luct. 


to the inhabitants of a Greek city. His bodily 
presence is weak, and he does not attempt to over- 
awe them by a display of miraculous power. He 
appeals to their hearts and their reason, and he 
‘delivers them a message with which he is com- 
missioned. That message was delivered to him by a 
Person who had died a malefactor’s death, but who, 
as the Apostle alleged, had risen again, and who 
had declared Himself to be the Son of God—of 
that God who was the Creator of the heavens and 
the earth. On the faith of this assurance, to which 
the Apostle himself and two or three companions 
were the only witnesses, he claimed for the living 
and true God, and for Jesus Christ His Son, the 
sole allegiance of those whom he addressed. He 
called upon them to break away from the traditions, 
the associations, the habits of their life, to abandon 
both the religious observances and the social customs 
of their fathers, and to incur obloquy, persecution, 
and death. It was an immense demand, even when 
urged with all the moral and spiritual force of an 
Apostle ; and that it was obeyed so widely can only 
be ascribed to the co-operation of that Divine Spirit 
whom our Lord promised to send, that He might 
convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of 
judgment. 

But the case will appear still stronger, if we 
imagine a Christian preacher making the same appeal 
at the beginning of the second century. Such a 
preacher would invite belief in certain facts which 


VI.) the Karly Church. 141 


he did not himself claim to have seen; and such 
written evidence as he could produce was at least no 
better than that which we now possess. On the face 
of it, a man must have seemed to others to have been 
incurring an enormous risk in hazarding his whole 
life, present and future, on the assurance of such 
a preacher, and becoming a member of a society 
which was despised and persecuted by the vast 
majority of the world. It is sometimes said that the 
difficulties of belief are greater in the present day 
than in the early days of Christianity, by virtue of 
the immense distance in time, and as it were in 
historic space, which separates us from them. But 
that course of time, and that historic space, have been 
continuously furnishing a mass of testimony to the 
power of the Gospel which more than counteracts 
any such disadvantage. It might even be maintained 
that, with the aid of the historical knowledge of the 
present day, we enjoy facilities for realising the posi- 
tion and the teaching of our Lord and of His apostles 
which are greater than those possessed by many of 
the early Christians. We possess written documents 
_ which, to say the very least, have in substance stood 
the severest tests of criticism, and the truth of the 
assurances and the predictions they record is attested 
by the accumulating witness of the Church. Above 
all, to be a Christian is with us not, as with a pagan 
of those days, to place ourselves in antagonism to the 
institutions around us but, on the contrary, to bring 
ourselves into harmony with the spirit in which they 


142 The Faith of [Lucr. 


were constructed, and from which they derived their 
main strength. We have an illustration, perhaps, 
though only an approximate one, of the difficulties 
with which the early preachers of Christianity must 
have had to contend, in the work of missionaries 
among the Hindoos; and we know how arduous are 
the obstacles which the Gospel there encounters. 
When, in short, all allowance has been made for the 
long preparation which had resulted in the fulness 
of time, the faith of the early Church and its victory 
over the world remain, perhaps, the most conspicuous 
miracles of Christianity, and the most vivid evidence 
of the operation of the Holy Spirit. 

In considering the nature and the foundation of 
this faith, we have to encounter in the present day 
misapprehensions, and, we must needs say, misrepre- 
sentations, for which it is difficult to account. The 
idea has been industriously spread that there is some 
inconsistency between the teaching of our Lord and 
that of His Apostles, and still more between the 
teaching of the Apostles and the ultimate result 
of the teaching of the Church, as represented in the 
Creeds. To take one of the last instances of this mis- 
representation, we are told by the author of Super- 
natural Religion that ‘we may look in vain in the 
Synoptic Gospels for the doctrines elaborated in the 
Pauline Epistles and the Gospel of Ephesus.’ ‘It is 
not difficult,’ says this writer, ‘to follow the gradual 
development of the Creeds of the Church, and it is 

b Vol. 1. pp. 486, 487, 4th edition. 


VT") the Early Church. 143 


certainly most instructive to observe the progressive 
boldness with which its dogmas were expanded by 
pious enthusiasm.’. . . ‘The disciples,’ he continues, 
‘who had so often misunderstood the teaching of 
Jesus during His life, piously distorted it after His 
death. His simple lessons of meekness and humi- 
lity were soon forgotten. With lamentable rapidity 
the elaborate structure of ecclesiastical Christianity, 
following stereotyped lines of human superstition, 
and deeply coloured by Alexandrian philosophy, dis- 
placed the simple morality of Jesus.” Now it is 
not easy, and perhaps it is hardly fitting, to treat 
without indignation such a distortion of the history 
and character of the early Church. If the charge 
were not echoed, in various forms, in modern scep- 
tical literature, it would be unworthy of notice ; 
but it would seem as if no task were more necessary © 
in the present day than that of reviving and pre- 
senting to the world the picture of the early Church, 
as it appeared in the freshness and fulness of its 
life, ‘ Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible 
as an army with banners. Enough, however, is 
readily accessible, especially to a writer who pre- 
tends to so much learning as this author, to justify 
us in denouncing such statements as an inexcusable 
calumny. ‘They are contrary to facts established by 
the most impartial evidence, and they belie the most 
conspicuous features of early Christian life. 

The history of the early Church, in fact, might 
almost be summed up in words like those of the 


144 The Faith of . _[{Lrer. 


inspired writer, used with a reference to our Lord, 
They ‘resisted unto blood, striving against sin®.’ His 
life, it 1s acknowledged, was one persistent warfare 
against sin in all forms, and it was pursued at the 
cost of all warfare, that of blood. Manifold as are 
the spiritual aspects of our Lord's sacrifice, this is 
the description of its actual history ; and His early 
followers, at all events, trod faithfully in His foot- 
steps. From the moment He rose from the dead, 
and assured His Apostles of His triumph, the Chris- 
tian Church organised a similar warfare against sin. 
Its members were formed into a perpetual society, 
‘having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are 
His, and Let every one that nameth the name of 
Christ depart from iniquity 4.’ St. Peter opened that 
long war on the day of Pentecost, in words which, 
like those of his Lord, pricked his hearers to the 
heart, exhorting them to ‘repent and be baptized 
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
sins®. Some seventy years afterwards the veil is 
lifted, by the hand of a Roman statesman, from the 
comparative obscurity of the Christian Church, and 
discloses an army of soldiers of the cross, whose 
bond of union is still stamped conspicuously with 
the Apostolic seal. At the commencement of the 
second century, Pliny reports to Trajan, as the 
result of what he could extort from the Christians 
in his province, ‘ that this was the sum of their fault 
or error, that they were wont to meet together on a 


¢ Heb. xii. 4. d 2 Tim. ii. 19. © Acts 1. 38. 


VI.] the Early Church. 145 


stated day before sunrise, and sing a hymn to 
Christ as God, and bind themselves by a Sacra- 
mentum that they would not commit theft or robbery 
or adultery, that they would not break faith, nor 
repudiate a trustf’ A memorable record! honour- 
able to the Roman to whose impartial accuracy it 
is due, as well as to the Church whose clear and 
simple character it reflects, and more precious, alike 
in its historical and in its practical instruction, than 
many a famous volume. 

Under this standard, and bound by this oath, 
the army of the Saints maintained a stern, though 
patient, war against the sin which was embodied 
in the life, and in the very institutions, of the 
society of their day. ‘They won at length a great 
victory, and it was achieved, like that of their Lord, 
by resistance unto blood. That which has been 
described as ‘the strong antipathy of good to 
bad’ aroused the equally strong antipathy of bad 
to good. A corrupt society felt instinctively that 
a Church which was at war with iniquity was 
at war with itself, and it appealed to the final 
arbitrament of bloodshed. When we realise the 
deadly nature of this struggle, when we think 
of the blood that has been shed in it, from that 
Precious Blood to which in the recent season we 
have done special homage, to the outpouring of the 
life of innumerable humbler souls, the deepest emo- 
tions of our souls are stirred; and it is not easy 

f See Note 11. 
it 


146 The Faith of [Lzcr. 


to be as patient as we should otherwise wish to be 
with such misrepresentations of the Church’s early 
history as have just been quoted. 

But it may be that the controversies which have, 
of late years, raged around certain points of Church 
history have obscured its main course and character. 
While men are disputing about the alleged incon- 
sistency between Petrine and Pauline Christianity, 
or enquiring into the development of the Roman 
claims to supremacy, they are in danger of forget- 
ting the main course and current of Christian life, 
and of subordinating its essential to its accidental 
features. The extent to which such a distortion of 
vision can go is forcibly illustrated by another state- 
ment made by the writer already quoted, with a 
recklessness characteristic of his school. ‘Had we 
been dependent,’ he says, ‘on St. Paul, Christ’s noble 
morality would have remained unknown, and His 
lessons of rare spiritual excellence would have been 
lost to the worlds. It is to be presumed that such 
a writer is aware of St. Paul’s description of charity, 
of his constant exhortations to ‘love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem- 
perance,’ of his description of ‘the mind that was in 
Christ Jesus. But if so, that he can have made such 
an assertion affords a measure by which we may 
reasonably judge of his capacity, and of the capacity 
of the class of critics whom he represents, for appre- 
hending the real facts of Christian life and thought. 

& Supernatural Religion, vol. iii. p. 567. Ed. 18709. 


VI] the Karly Church. 147 


There is, however, 2 momentous truth, of which 
such objections may possibly be a travesty, however 
strange. Hven thoughtful believers seem sometimes 
perplexed by certain differences which undoubtedly 
exist between the teaching of our Lord, as recorded 
in the Gospels, and that of the Apostles, as recorded 
in the book of the Acts and in the Epistles. But on 
the very suppositions of our faith, such a difference 
is inevitable. Between the ministry of our Lord and 
the teaching of the Apostles the most momentous 
of all events in the spiritual history of mankind had 
occurred. Our Lord had died on the Cross, had 
risen from the dead, had ascended into heaven, and 
had bestowed upon His Church the gift of the Holy 
Spirit. On the supposition that those events are of 
the character which the faith of the Church assigns to 
them, it is inevitable that there should be a difference, 
and even a vast difference, between the point of view 
of those who lived before them and that of those who 
lived after them ; and the distinctive character of the 
Epistles is thus so far from being a ground of objec- 
tion, that it is a most conspicuous instance of the 
harmony of Christian truth. Of course, if a man 
ignores the belief of the Apostles that our Lord made 
an atonement for the sins of the world on the Cross, if 
he denies His Resurrection, and deems His Ascension 
to sit on the right hand of God a myth, he cannot 
understand why there should be any distinction be- 
tween His teaching and that of those who preached in 
His name. But if the relation of God to man and of 

2 


148 The Fath of [ Lect. 


man to God was vitally affected by the sacrifice on the 
Cross, if, by virtue of His resurrection and ascension 
our Lord assumed a new authority, and established 
among men a new influence, His Apostles cannot 
speak simply as He spoke. They have new truths 
to communicate, new facts to assert, new realities in 
the spiritual and moral world to enforce. When our 
Lord spoke, as is said in the Gospel of St. John, 
‘The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that 
Jesus was not yet glorified»’ When the Apostles 
wrote, the most prominent and visible characteristic 
of Christians was to have received the Holy Spirit, 
and to exhibit His influence in their lives. Our 
Lord announced that the kingdom of God was at 
hand. When the Epistles were written, the king- 
dom of God had come, and a new world had been 
created. ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature, old things are passed away; behold all 
things are become new?.’ The whole teaching of the 
Christian Church is founded on the supposition that 
a special revelation was entrusted to the Apostles 
respecting our Lord’s mediatorial work, and that new 
spiritual powers were bestowed on those who be- 
heved on Him. There is nothing essentially incon- 
sistent In an argument which disputes the facts thus 
alleged, and the validity of the testimony thus 
offered; but there is something strangely unreason- 
able in a criticism which make it a complaint 
against such testimony that it is consistent with 
h St. John vii. 39. a2 Cor. Wi? 


VI] the Early Church. 149 


itself, and that it is the natural and necessary con- 
sequence of the facts to which it bears witness. 
The evidence that this new spiritual power had 
been introduced into the world is conspicuous in the 
records of the early Church, and is especially to be 
discerned in one marked characteristic of Christian 
life. That characteristic is the intense joy, hope, 
and enthusiasm by which it is animated. In the 
aspirations of men after righteousness at other times, 
there is present a certain feeling of desperation, an 
oppressive sense of guilt and weakness, a conscious- 
ness of straining after an unattainable ideal. But in 
the lives of the Fathers and of the early Christians, 
instead of this painful sense of failure and guilt we 
find an unfailing apprehension of peace and victory. 
Our Saviour’s pledge, ‘your heart shall rejoice and 
your joy no man taketh from youk,’ has its fulfilment 
recorded in every page of early Church history. It 
was a pledge, indeed, which, as our Lord warned His 
disciples, was strangely contrasted with the visible 
circumstances of their lives. Never, surely, was 
any body of men exposed to greater adversities, 
sufferings, and distresses, and even apparent failures. 
But the Epistles alone would be a sufficient witness 
that the pledge was fulfilled. Certainly there is a 
grave and saddened tone about them, a tone as 
that of men who appreciate the evil and misery of 
life, and know how hard a thing it is to remedy 
it; but there is not less certainly a deeper joy in 


k St. John xvi. 22. 


150 The Faith of [Lucr. 


them than in any other human writings. The grace 
and peace with which the Apostle Paul begins and 
ends his Epistles are no mere familiar salutations, 
but express the spirit which breathes throughout 
them; and St. John similarly declares that his 
object is to bring his readers into fellowship with 
himself, a fellowship in which their joy may be 
full!, The beloved disciple who, at the Saviour’s 
side, had heard this promise, ‘your heart shall re- 
joice and your joy no man taketh from you, thus 
testifies, at the close of his long and troubled Apostle- 
ship, that his joy had been full. 

Similarly, as one peruses the accounts of the 
martyrs, or the writings of the early Christian 
Fathers, this is perhaps the feature which stands 
out most vividly. All around us is a disappointed 
world—a world of disappointed valour, disappointed 
justice, disappointed virtue, a world in which suicide 
had come to be looked upon as a natural and reason- 
able resource. But in the midst of it the martyrs and 
confessors, the humblest Christians and the most dis- 
tinguished alike, display all the energy of hope, of 
love, and of the complete satisfaction of their hearts. 
It is not ecstasy, it is the calmest and most peaceful 
assurance. ‘They have found true joys, their hearts 
are fixed on them ; and amidst the sundry and mani- 
fold changes of that stormy time, they bear witness 
to the truth of the Apostolic promise that their joy 
should be full. ‘This, undoubtedly, was one of the 

1 1 St. John i. 4. 


VI.) the Karly Church. 151 


chief causes which gave such an intense energy and 
movement to the history of the early Christian 
Church. There, and there alone, was it felt that joy 
could be found, and energy exercised without re- 
straint ; and as the old world more and more proved 
its uncertainty and fallaciousness, men and women 
took refuge in this blessed fellowship. It has been a 
commonplace of worldly writers to compare—as one of 
their modern representatives has expressed it—‘ the 
languors of virtue’ with ‘the raptures of vice,’ and it 
is possible that moralists have sometimes given oc- 
casion for the comparison. But the great truth of 
Christian morals is that the contrast must be exactly 
reversed ; and as a matter of history, especially in 
the first three centuries, it was so reversed. In 
that period, the languors are all on the side of 
vice, and the raptures all on the side of virtue. 
They are so still, in the experience of every 
one who surrenders himself to the full influence of 
the Gospel; but the sudden and overwhelming force 
with which this experience is displayed in Christian 
life, after our Lord’s ascension, is one of the keys 
to Church history. Perfect love has cast out fear. 
The Christian soul breathes in an atmosphere of 
light, and grace, and peace, and truth. It is not 
merely hoping for ultimate salvation. It is living in 
the light ; all things have become new to it in the 
spirit, and it is assured that they will hereafter 
become new to it in the body. Read the records 
of the Church without an eye to controversy, and 


152 The Faith of [Lucr. 


with a simple desire to apprehend their main charac- 
teristics, and you will find them summed up in 
this description of Christian life by St. Paul :— 
‘Therefore being justified by faith we have peace 
with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, .... and 
rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not 
only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing 
that tribulation worketh patience, and -patience ex- 
perience, and experience hope; and hope maketh 
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad 
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given 
unto us ™, 

Now to what is all this marvellous display of 
moral energy, hope, and endurance ascribed by those 
who exhibited it? Their witness is the best evidence 
of their motives, and of the power on which they 
relied, and it is perfectly uniform. As with the Jews, 
and as in the Sermon on the Mount, the life of the 
Saints starts from the vision of our Father in Heaven, 
the Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord of the 
spirits of all flesh, the God of all righteousness, power, 
and love. It starts from this vision; but it proceeds 
to the conviction that the perfect image of God is 
revealed in Jesus Christ, and that union with Him, 
through faith, is union with God, and conveys to us 
all the blessings of perfect fellowship with the Father. 
‘This is the record, that God hath given to us 
eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that 
hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the 


m Rom. y. 1-5. 


VI.) the Early Church. 153 


Son of God hath not life.’ ‘We have seen, and do 
testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the 
Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that 
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he 
in God°.’ The two ideas are never separated ; and 
the theological conception is always the strength 
and life of the moral. As St. Paul at Athens begins 
by declaring ‘the unknown God,’ so the life of 
Christians and the confessions of the martyrs start 
from the belief that their fellowship is with the 
Father. The confession of St. Polycarp at the stake 
is the earliest of these solemn testimonies ; and it is 
at once the loftiest and the most characteristic of all: 
—‘He looked up to heaven and said, “OQ Lord God 
Almighty, the Father of Thy beloved and blessed Son 
Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the know- 
ledge of Thee, the God of angels and powers, and 
of every creature, and of the whole race of the 
righteous who live before Thee, I give Thee thanks 
that Thou hast counted me worthy of this day and 
this hour, that I should have a part in the number 
of Thy martyrs, in the cup of Thy Christ, to the 
resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, 
through the incorruption imparted by the Holy 
Ghost. Among whom may I be accepted before 
Thee this day as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, 
according as Thou, the faithful and true God, hast 
fore-ordained, hast revealed beforehand, and hast 


now fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise Thee for all 


n x St. John v. 11, 12. © St. John iv. 14, 15 


154 The Faith of [ Lect. 


things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, along with the 
everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Thy beloved 
Son, through Whom to Thee, with Him and the 
Holy Ghost, be glory both now and to all ages. 
Amen P.”’ Jt would be difficult to quote from any 
post-apostolic source a more complete summary of 
the Christian faith, alike in its dogmatic contents 
and in its moral inspiration. 

But a peculiarly striking ulustration of this spirit 
of Christian thought has been afforded by the recent 
discovery of the portion which had been previously 
missing of the first Epistle of St. Clement of Rome. 
It contains a prayer, which may be regarded as the 
first known germ of a Christian liturgy, and which 
exhibits to us the spirit of the early Roman Church 
expressed in its most intense and deliberate form. 
The whole Epistle, says the present Bishop of 
Durham 4, may be said to lead up to a ‘long prayer 
or litany, if we may so call it, which forms a fit 
close to its lessons of forbearance and love.” ‘We 
will ask,’ says St. Clement’, ‘with instancy of prayer | 
and. supplication, that the Creator of the universe may 


0 9 


guard intact unto the end His elect throughout the 
whole world, through His beloved Son Jesus Christ, 
through whom He called us from darkness to light, 
from ignorance to the full knowledge of the glory of 


yp The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, ch. xiv. See Note 12. 

a Dr. Lightfoot’s St. Clement of Rome; An Appendix, p. 269. 

tr §¢, Clement of Kkome; An Appendix, pp. 376-378. See 
Note 13. 


VI.] the Early Church. 155 


His name. Grant unto us, Lord, that we may set 
our hope on Thy Name which is the primal source 
of all creation ; and open the eyes of our hearts, that 
we may know Thee, who alone abidest Highest in 
the highest, Holy in the holy, who layest low the in- 
solence of the proud, who scatterest the imaginings 
of nations ; who settest the lowly on high, and bringest 
the lofty low, who makest rich and makest poor ; who 
killest and makest alive ; who alone art the Benefactor 
of spirits and the God of all flesh, who lookest into 
the abysses, who scannest the works of man; the 
Succour of them that are in peril; the Saviour of 
them that are in despair ; the Creator and overseer 
of every spirit; who multipliest the nations upon 
earth, and hast chosen out from all men those that 
love Thee through Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, 
through whom Thou didst instruct us, didst sanctify 
us, didst honour us. We beseech Thee, Lord and 
Master, to be our help and succour. Save those 
among us who are in tribulation ; have mercy on the 
lowly; lift up the fallen; show Thyself unto the 
needy ; heal the ungodly ; convert the wanderers of 
Thy people; feed the hungry; release our prisoners ; 
raise up the weak; comfort the fainthearted. Let 
all the Gentiles know that Thou art God alone, 
and Jesus Christ is Thy Son, and we are Thy people 
and the sheep of Thy pasture. Thou through Thine 
operations didst make manifest the everlasting fabric 
of the world. Thou, Lord, didst create the earth. 
Thou that are faithful throughout all generations, . 


156 The Faith of [Lecr. 


righteous in Thy judgments, marvellous in strength 
and excellence, Thou that art wise in creating and 
prudent in establishing that which Thou hast made, 
that art good in the things which are seen and 
faithful with them that trust on Thee, pitiful and 
compassionate, forgive us our iniquities, and our 
unrighteousnesses, and our transgressions, and short- 
comings. Lay not to our account every sin of Thy 
servants and thine handmaids, but cleanse us with 
the cleansing of Thy truth, and guide our steps 
to walk in holiness, and righteousness, and single- 
ness of heart, and to do such things as are good 
and well-pleasing in Thy sight and in the sight 
of our rulers. Yea, Lord, make Thy face to shine 
upon us in peace for our good, that we may be 
sheltered by Thy mighty hand and delivered from 
every sin by Thine uplifted arm. And deliver us 
from them that hate us wrongfully. Give concord 
and peace to us and to all that dwell on the earth, 
as Thou gavest to our fathers, when they called 
on Thee in faith and truth with holiness, that we 
may be saved, while we render obedience to Thine 
Almighty and most excellent Name, and to our rulers 
and governors upon the earth.’ 

This mention of the rulers of the State is a 
peculiarly touching and sublime example of the 
Christian spirit when we remember that it proceeds 
from the midst of the furnace of persecution ; and 
before the Prayer concludes, a special supplication for 
them is added: ‘Thou, Lord and Master, hast given 


VI.] the Early Church. 157 


them the power of sovereignty through Thine ex- 
cellent and unspeakable might, that we knowing the 
glory and honour which Thou hast given them, may 
submit ourselves unto them, in nothing resisting Thy 
will Grant unto them, therefore, O Lord, health, 
peace, concord, stability, that they may administer 
the government which Thou hast given them without 
failure. For Thou, O heavenly Master, King of the 
ages, givest to the sons of men glory and honour 
and power over all things that are upon the earth. 
Do Thou, Lord, direct their counsel according to that 
which is good and well pleasing in Thy sight, that 
administering in peace and gentleness with godliness 
the power which Thou hast given them, they may 
obtain Thy favour. O Thou, who alone art able to 
do these things and things far more exceeding good 
than these for us, we praise Thee through the High- 
priest and guardian of our souls, Jesus Christ, through 
whom be the glory and the majesty unto Thee both now 
and for all generations and for ever and ever. Amen.’ 

Such was the prayer of the Christians of Rome 
in the age of Domitian; and it deserves to be quoted 
in its entirety as a singularly comprehensive and 
authoritative exposition of the spirit by which they 
were animated. We may observe, in passing, the 
commentary which it affords on the allegation that 
the dogmas of the Church have been expanded by 
the ‘ progressive boldness of pious enthusiasm. ‘T'he 
bidding prayer read at the commencement of these 
Lectures is but an echo of this ancient supplication ; 


158 The Faith of [Lrcr. 


and in the prayer for the Church Militant which pre- 
cedes our most sacred act of worship we do not rise 
to a greater height, or assume any other essential 
theological truth. But the point with which we 
are concerned, for the immediate purpose of this 
argument, is that the intense elevation and hope of 
early Christian morality is here seen to be wholly 
inspired and sustained by the vision of God in Jesus 
Christ, and by the faith, assured through His death 
and resurrection, of the possibility of fellowship with 
the Divine nature. God is loved in Him, and He 
is loved in God; and communion with perfect glory, 
hight and truth is thus opened to the soul by means 
of the most simple, most human, most natural re- 
Jationship. 

Now it is from this point of view that the Creeds 
of the Church are to be approached ; and when they 
are placed in this light, all the appearance of mere 
speculative dogmatism, which is attributed to them 
by scepticism, at once melts away, and seems scarcely 
to need refutation. They are not mere abstract state- 
ments respecting the nature of God. They embody the 
most moral, the most human, the most touching and 
affecting conceptions which can stir the depths of the 
heart. If the Creeds are the distinctive characteristic 
of the Christian Church, it is not because Alexandrian 
metaphysics, or any mere theological speculations, 
had elaborated theories about the Divine nature. 
That was the work of the Gnostics, of the Arians, 
and of similar heretics. It was because, as a matter 


VI] the Early Church. 159 


of certain apprehension and most blessed fact, our 
Lord Jesus Christ, fulfillmg in His life and death 
and resurrection the promises of the Old Testament, 
had revealed to men the image of a God of infinite 
love and light, had brought that God home to them 
in their very flesh and blood, had assured them of 
reconciliation and union with Him, had offered Him- 
self as a propitiation for their sins, and in answer to 
their prayers had bestowed on them a grace and 
power, which they felt in daily experience to be the 
first-fruits of redemption. It is the whole of Christian 
lite, the whole of that intense moral and spiritual 
illumination we have been contemplating, which con- 
stitutes the background of the creeds, and bestows on 
them their vital force and reality. The revelation of 
God, as we have seen in previous Lectures, was the 
life of faith from its earliest dawn—the strength of 
Abraham, the hope of the Prophets, the sum and 
substance of the life of our Lord. In Hin, His life, 
His death, His resurrection, His ascension, it had 
become the daily food of Christian souls ; and when, 
in Arianism, the last and most subtle attempt was 
made to divide Him from God, and thus to prevent 
us from feeling that, in union with Him, we were in 
union with God, it was not the Christian intellect, 
so much as the Christian heart, that revolted. It 
was this impulse which animated St. Athanasius. 
The spirit which really moved him may be perceived 
in his treatise De Incarnatione Verbi, written before 
the controversial period of his life, and of which the 


160 The Faith of [Lecr. 


central idea is the recovery, through Jesus Christ, 
of the glorious image of God which the human 
soul had lost. It was probably to the intense de- 
votion of St. Antony to God and Christ, as much 
as to the schools of Alexandria, that he owed his 
inspiration §. 

But an equally striking testimony to this character 
of the Christian creeds may be quoted from a great 
Western Father of the same age—St. Hilary of 
Poitiers. He has been called the Athanasius of the 
West, but his witness cannot be supposed to be 
sophisticated by Alexandrian speculation. He has 
himself described most vividly the process of his 
conversion and of his acceptance of the Christian 
faith, and his testimony is the more remarkable, as 
it describes an experience which passes through all the 
stages of faith we have contemplated in the course 
of these Lecturest. He commenced by dissatisfaction 
with the pleasures of mere worldly life, and by a 
repulsion from the absurdities of Paganism. He 
aspired to know that God from whom he received 
all the benefits of existence-—a God to whom he could 
entirely devote himself, in whom he could place all 
his hopes, and in whom he could rest, as in a sure 
harbour, against all the storms of the present life. 
To understand or to recognise this God, his soul was 
inflamed with an ardent intensity. While thus medi- 
tating, he came upon the books of Moses, where he 
read, ‘Iam that I am, ego swm qui sum; and he was 

8 See Note 14. t See Note 15. 


VI.] the Karly Church. 161 


at once carried away by the grandeur and simplicity 
of this description of God. He became absorbed in 
the delight of contemplating the eternity, the infinity, 
and the perfect beauty of the Divine Nature. But 
how were these contemplations to be reconciled with 
the infirmity and shortness of human life? ‘It 
would be of little avail to have a right belief about 
God, if death would destroy all apprehension of 
Him, or some failure of nature would abolish it, 
Hilary’s soul was harassed by anxiety, partly for 
itself, partly for the body. It was in this state 
of mind that he came upon the statement of St. 
John, ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among 
us. ‘Here, he exclaims, ‘my trembling and anxious 
soul found more hope than it was looking for... 
I learned that God was made flesh, that by means 
of the Word, thus made flesh, the flesh might 
grow up to God the Word. This assurance of 
union with God in Christ at once removed from 
him the fear of death and all weariness of exist- 
ence. ‘The present life became to him like learning 
to a child, or medicine to the sick, or training to 
the youth. All present things were endurable to 
one who was advancing through them to the reward 
of a blessed immortality. 

Such were the simple, but intense, moral convictions 
which inspired the profound devotion of the early 
Church to Christ and to the truth of His Divinity. 
When that truth was once established as the greatest 
and most powerful of practical beliefs, it was inevitable 

M 


162 The Faith of [ Lect. 


that it should be discussed by philosophy, and 
that, for certain purposes, it should be cast into a 
scientific form. It is a characteristic of all sciences, 
that the practical principles from which they start 
are as simple as the development and the intellectual 
justification of those principles are complex. The 
primary truths, for instance, on which mathematical 
or mechanical science is based are few, and when 
stated obvious; but there is no limit to the com- 
plexity which their scientific expression involves. 
The practical maxims, both of law and of morality, 
are very simple ; and the Ten Commandments are for 
ordinary men a sufficient working rule. But what 
immense fnental labour, and what subtle intelligence 
have been expended, and doubtless necessarily ex- 
pended, in presenting them in a scientific form, and 
harmonising them intellectually with other truths and 
facts! What elaborate systems of ethics and codes 
of law has not the world seen, and what continued 
elaboration is even now expended upon the same 
practical subjects! Why should that be a reproach 
to theology which is none to law or to morality ? 
The more momentous, in fact, the truth, and the 
greater its practical import, the less can we be 
satisfied till we have examined it by the tests of 
our various faculties, and reconciled it with our in- 
tellect as well as with our conscience. This is simply 
what was done in the theological controversies which 
raged around the Creeds. But, on the whole, that 
which is most remarkable about the Creed which 


VI] the Karly Church. 163 


is really ‘The Creed of St. Athanasius ’—namely, 
the Creed of Niczea—is the simplicity and reserve of 
its statements, and what might be called its intense 
realism. There are one or two philosophical phrases 
introduced for the purpose of combating a false 
philosophy. But, for the most part, it speaks in the 
language of ordinary life, and brings us into contact 
with God, as St. Hilary says, through flesh and 
blood. It is not, indeed, Christians who are the 
most open to the charge of introducing metaphysics 
into religion and moral philosophy. Such a charge 
might more fitly be brought against those who would 
substitute for the eternal realities which in Christ we 
see, and hear, and handle, abstractions like Humanity 
or the Unknowable. The Apostles spoke of that 
which they had seen and heard, and the Church 
from age to age repeats their witness, as verified 
by her own experience. 

Such is the origin and such the character of the 
Faith of the Christian Church; and, when thus 
apprehended, it must surely, at the least, appear 
the noblest and most beautiful vision of moral and 
spiritual truth that ever dawned on the heart of 
man. One of the reproaches most frequently ad- 
dressed to ourselves in these days was also cast 
upon the early Christians. They were charged with 
being too eager to accept the revelation offered to 
them. They were taunted with exhorting men to 
believe without waiting to investigate too curiously". 

u See Note 16. 
M 2 


164 The Faith of the Early Church. 


Even if they had been unable to justify this ex- 
hortation on other grounds, would it not, at least, 
have been a generous error? Such a revelation, 
and such a vision as we have been contemplating, 
may well seem to carry their own evidence with 
them, and at the very least to be worth an earnest 
and sincere trial. It is, however, a sufficient answer 
to all such reproaches, and especially to those which 
in the present day are advanced in the name of 
experimental science, that the appeal of the Christian 
teacher has always been made to a living experience. 
It should constantly be borne in mind, and will be 
our best application of these considerations to our- 
selves, that the Church has always been able to offer 
the most conclusive justification of her appeal to any 
who are led to follow it. She has ever been able 
to address men in the language of St. Paul, ‘ Believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved v’ 
—saved not only hereafter, but in this present life, 
saved from the tyranny of sin, endued with the 
grace of God’s Holy Spirit, given an actual and 
present participation in that life of moral and 
spiritual perfection which the New Testament re- 
veals. She has ever been ready to stake the truth 
of her message on its verification in each believer's 
own experience ; and in all the long generations of 
Christianity it is not recorded that any one trusted 
to her witness, and was disappointed. 


Vv Acta xviis i 


LECTURE VII. 
THE FAITH OF THE REFORMATION. 


Rom. VIII. 15. 


For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but 
ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, 
Father. 


IN the course of these Lectures we have now con- 
sidered the general nature of Faith, and its specific 
development and character under the Jewish dis- 
pensation, under the teaching of our Lord, and in the 
early Church. Under the impulse finally communi- 
cated by the gift of the Holy Spirit, Faith entered on 
a long period of victory and supremacy. In a tem- 
poral as well as in a spiritual sense it overcame the 
world. It conquered, first in the spiritual sphere, and 
then in the temporal, an imperial civilization ; it then 
brought under its sway, one by one, a mass of wild 
barbarian tribes; and at length it accomplished the 
grand achievement of completely organizing a new 
civilization, of welding together in one harmonious 
form the old world and the new, and of uniting a 
swarm of struggling races and nationalities, under 
the dominion of the Church, as parts of the one 


166 The Faith of [Lecr. 


monarchy of the Pope. The centuries in which this 
great work was achieved have been called, not un- 
justly, ‘the ages of faith’ Though gross abuses 
and fatal perversions of the truth were admitted in 
the course of them, they nevertheless present, in the 
main, a noble exhibition of the power of Faith. The 
whole of life was built up in accordance with one 
grand conception; and the elements of that con- 
ception were furnished by the Christian creed. 
The men of the middle ages were great archi- 
tects—architects in thought, in society, in poli- 
tics, in ecclesiastical organization, no less than in 
stone and marble. In every department of human life 
they laid deep foundations ; and they reared mighty 
structures, under which, to this hour, our religion 
is sheltered, our learning fostered, our social life con- 
trolled, and to which even the framework of our 
political institutions is in great measure due. The 
Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the Bishops, 
the Popes, the Monks, built for all time; and having 
planned their great edifices, in the main, on the 
enduring laws of revealed truth, and based them 
on the divinely organized constitution of the Church, 
they could trust the generations which followed them 
to carry forward their work. A great institution 
such as this University grew, like a mighty tree, 
from age to age, under the impulse of one enduring 
principle of life; and in age after age, with har- 
monious instinct, men endowed Colleges, as they built 
Churches, in the confidence—a confidence, surely, 


VII] the Reformation. 167 


which cannot be in substance disappointed—that 
they would ever remain under the guiding influence 
of Christ’s Church, and that in them ‘ whatever 
might conduce to true religion and useful learning 
would for ever flourish and abound. The noble 
structures which adorn this city, and the grand 
foundations which constitute this University, are the 
products, not merely of genius, but of faith, and of 
that large and prophetic vision which communion 
with the central source of truth alone supplies. 

But the principle that the best things, when cor- 
rupted, become the worst has, as might have been 
expected, received its most conspicuous illustration 
in the history of religion, and above all of true 
religion. All great gifts and privileges bring pro- 
portionate temptations, and if these be yielded to, 
blessings may become almost transformed into curses. 
To none is this risk so terrible as to men who are 
entrusted with great spiritual powers; and the 
danger to which such men are exposed may perhaps 
be in some measure discerned in the temptation to 
which our Lord was subjected. There comes an 
hour when the evil spirit takes them up into a 
high mountain, and shows them the kingdoms 
of the world and the glory of them, and says unte 
them, ‘all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt 
fall down and worship me®.’ The vision of universal 
influence, and perhaps dominion, dawns upon the 
mind. It may be a legitimate vision, destined in 

® St. Matthew iv. 9. 


168 The Faith of [Lecr. 


some way to be realised; but the Devil suggests 
that it may be realised at once, and that it may 
be grasped with certainty, by some service to him— 
by some untruthfulness, some convenient falsehood, 
some unscrupulous act of violence or craft. To such 
a temptation it may well be that Mahomet suc- 
cumbed. Entrusted with a great truth, and dis- 
cerning its power over men’s spirits, he saw the 
opportunity of turning it to account more profitably 
by some measure of falsehood, craft, or violence ; and 
he became a false prophet, instead of remaining, as 
he might have remained, a true one. 

A similar temptation assailed the hierarchy of 
the Christian Church, when faith had won its first 
ereat triumph, and when the dominion of the Church 
over human life had begun to be consolidated. By 
exaggerating legitimate powers, by accepting con- 
venient forgeries, by admitting the aid of opportune 
violence, by using the weapons and the agents of 
worldly craft and cunning, the way seemed open and 
plain to the possession of all the kingdoms of the 
world and the glory of them. To be just to the 
Popes and to their servants, it must be admitted 
that the temptation was tremendous—all the more 
so because it was gradual and subtle, and could 
appeal in its support to some great facts and verities. 
To be conscious of having just claims to a certain 
royalty over the souls of men, and yet solely and 
simply to bear witness unto the truth—this is the 
severest trial of human nature. But, for that very 


VII] the Reformation. 169 


reason, to fail in it involves a terrible fall, and may 
entail spiritual ruin. When bishops, priests, and 
monks were unable to say: to the tempter, ‘Get thee 
hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve, they 
entered into possession of the kingdoms of the 
world and the glory of them, but they lost the 
kinedom of God. When power instead of truth 
became the object of the dominant hierarchy, faith 
had been falsified at its source. The vision of the 
God to whom they had thus been faithless became 
eclipsed, and a huge and portentous system of error 
and superstition developed, as by a natural law, from 
the first original untruth. The ‘ages of faith’ became 
transformed into the ages of superstition ; and when 
the revival of learning brought men into communion 
with the wisdom and the beauty of the ancient 
world, it was no wonder if more attractions were 
often found in a refined Paganism than in a cor- 
rupted Christianity. But at this critical moment, the 
most critical, perhaps, through which the Church 
ever passed, a potent voice was heard which recalled 
the elementary principles of the Gospel. The des- 
cription of that Gospel, given by St. Paul, that 
‘therein is the righteousness of God revealed from 
faith to faith,’ was suddenly revived, and all Chris- 
tendom was stirred to its depths by the intensity 
with which the truth was re-asserted that ‘ The just 
shall live by faith.’ 

The experience and the teaching of the Reforma- 


170 The Faith of [Lucr, 


tion furnish, in fact, crucial tests of the nature 
and the function of Faith. In interpreting great 
historical crises, it 1s always safe to take, as a guide, 
the general impression which has been established 
respecting their main character, and the principles 
which were at stake in them; and in the case 
of the Reformation no doubt can exist on these 
points. Faith is the cardinal word of the Reforma- 
tion. It then re-assumes an importance it had long 
ceased to possess. The doctrine of Justification by 
Faith is the truth around which the struggle of that 
period turns, and on which the energies of the Re- 
formers were concentrated. The history of the Church 
is, in great part, the history of the manner in which 
truths which had been tacitly assumed, and prin- 
ciples which had been silently at work, start into 
new vitality, are recognized as among the central - 
elements of Christian life, and receive their final and 
permanent vindication. It is thus that the doctrine 
of our Lord’s perfect Divinity, always the faith of 
the Church, was reasserted, and brought into full. 
light, in the course of the Arian controversy ; and 
that the doctrine of Grace was explaied and justified 
in opposition to the Pelagian heresy. In a similar 
manner, the principle of Faith was brought out 
into fuller consciousness and distinctness during the 
struggles of the Reformation than at any previous 
period. The fact that those struggles have deter- 
mined the present condition of Western Christendom 
invests them with a supreme interest and instruction 


VIL.] the Reformation. 171 


for us. The Reformation, and the principles it vin- 
dicated, lie at the foundation of modern religious 
life, and in proportion as we grasp those principles 
shall we be able to meet the difficulties which con- 
front us. 

Now the Reformed confessions are unanimous re- 
specting the main points which they were intended 
to vindicate. They differ in the manner in which 
the truths thus reasserted were applied, and very 
grave practical consequences depended on these vary- 
ing applications and developments of the primary 
principles of the Reformation. But the principles 
themselves may be distinguished from the special 
forms they assumed, whether in Lutheranism, or Cal- 
vinism, or in our own Church; and they possessed 
a unity and vitality which are independent of such 
forms. The cardinal point in them all is a revived 
apprehension of our direct personal relation with 
God. In two grand instances it has been shewn 
by experience that the maintenance of this con- 
sciousness is the primary element alike in religion 
and in morality, and that the loss of it is at the 
root of all other corruptions, Those two instances 
are afforded by the history of the Jewish, and by 
that of the Christian, Church. Among the Jews, 
at the time of our Lord, a system was in full 
operation which, to all outward appearance, was in- 
tensely religious. The name of God was held in the 
most awful reverence ; the services at the Temple of 
Jerusalem were more magnificent than any religious 


172 The Faith of [ Lcr. 


worship ever seen. But, with all this, the practical 
apprehension of God, in His direct personal relation 
to the soul, had become obscured ; and with the loss 
of that apprehension, the moral perceptions of the 
people had lost their vitality, and the conscience was 
deadened. The parable of the Pharisee and the 
Publican exhibits in the most vivid form the spirit 
which had supplanted a living faith. The Pharisee, 
coming into the presence of God, does not appear 
sensible of any imperfection. That awful presence in 
no way humiliates him. It does not bring into full 
hight any consciousness of his own sin and feebleness. 
He only thanks God that he is not as other men are. 
The Publican, on the other hand, is overwhelmed 
by the sense of the Divine holiness. He stands afar 
off, and will not lift up so much as his eyes unto 
heaven, but smites upon his breast, saying, ‘God be 
merciful to me a sinner.’ The name of God was used 
by the Pharisee as the sanction for a system of | 
ceremonial observances, which brought the human 
soul under a complete slavery. But he had at the 
same time utterly lost the sense of his relation to 
God Himself, and the spirit of combined humility and 
faith which it involves. A precisely similar perver- 
sion had taken possession of the Christian Church 
at the time of the Reformation. The name of God 
was everywhere. His worship was never more 
splendid and ceremonious ; Churches were never more 
numerous or more beautiful. But, nevertheless, a 
formalism, not less intense than that which strangled 


VIL] the Reformation. 173 


true faith among the Jews, had taken possession 
of the Christian world; and the vital sense of the 
relation of men to God had been lost. For the 
mass of men, religion has become a vague appre- 
hension of unseen terrors; the Church, which by 
ancient prescription and tradition holds the secrets of 
the unseen world, is regarded mainly as the possessor 
of mysterious powers, alike of punishment and of 
deliverance, and men have surrendered themselves 
into nothing less than a bondage to its authority. 
The dread of the possible consequences of sin re- 
mains ; but its essential character is lost sight of 
on the one side, while the real deliverance from it 
is lost sight of on the other. Repentance and faith 
— ‘repentance towards God and faith towards our 
Lord Jesus Christ>’—which are the two central prin- 
ciples of religious life, are fatally enfeebled. 

Now the manner in which the Reformation met 
this corruption was twofold. In the first place, it 
intensified the sense of sin by bringing the soul in 
its inmost recesses into direct relation with God ; and 
at the same time it gave men a new confidence and 
peace, by assuring them of an equally direct re- 
lation to their Saviour, and of their right to trust 
themselves absolutely, and without any human inter- 
vention, to His promises of forgiveness and de- 
liverance. ‘The controversies which have arisen out 
of the Reformation have had an unfortunate effect 
in obscuring its real principles; but if we follow its 


b Acts xx. 21. 


174 The Faith of [ Lucr. 


actual history, those principles become unmistakable. 
They are best traced, perhaps, in the life of the great 
German Reformer, from whose intense perception of 
certain central truths the movement of the sixteenth 
century received its mainimpulse. Unfortunately he 
is too exclusively known by the controversial works 
which were produced in the later period of his life, 
instead of by his great utterances in the critical 
moments of his career. Never, perhaps, since early 
times, has so great a force been felt in Christendom 
as that which was exerted by Luther's first writings. 
With the capacity given only to great genius, or 
rather to the deepest spiritual insight, he grasped at 
once the real difficulties of the Church in his day, 
and insisted on the truth which was their solution. 
His influence was greater, and more immediate, than 
in the present day we can readily imagine; for 
notwithstanding our mereased means of intercourse, 
there was in his time a more close and rapid inter- 
change of thought between the great nations of 
Kurope than now exists. In the days—the happy 
days—when Latin was the tongue, not merely of the 
learned, but of the reading world, a work published 
in Germany gained attention in England, and its im- 
pulse was communicated to Europe, far more rapidly 
than at present. Consequently, long before the in- 
fluence of Calvin arose, and before the internal con- 
troversies of the Reformation distracted its adherents, 
the cardinal principles which Luther revived were 
working actively in men’s minds, and were reani- 


VII.] the Reformation. 175 


mating the whole life of the Church and of society. 
They are stamped deeply on the history of our own 
Church, though they have been applied with that 
moderation and balance which are among the choicest 
gifts of the English mind. 

But in the ninety-five Theses nailed on the door 
of the church at Wittenberg, and in the explanation 
of them soon afterwards published ; in the short 
treatises ‘On Christian Liberty, ‘On the Babylonian 
Captivity of the Church,’ and in the Address ‘ To the 
Christian nobility of the German nation concerning 
the Reformation of the Christian estate, we have the 
germinal ideas which, with more or less wisdom, 
were subsequently developed in the political and 
ecclesiastical history of the sixteenth century. Now, 
from what do they start? In conformity with the 
principles which have governed every other great 
religious movement, they spring from a profound 
apprehension of the necessity of repentance, and of 
the depth of that evil in human nature which the 
Gospel proposes to remedy. The first of the ninety- 
five Theses was an utterance well-fitted to arouse the 
conscience of Christendom. ‘Our Lord and Master 
Jesus Christ, when he said ‘‘ repent,” intended the 
whole life of Christians to be repentance.’ ‘ Dominus 
et Magister Noster Jesus Christus, dicendo, Poeni- 
tentiam agite, omnem vitam fidelium poenitentiam esse 
voluit. Memorable words! worthy to initiate a great 
spiritual, moral, and mental renovation. The theses 
then proceed, in the most trenchant though sometimes 


176 The Faath of [ Lect. 


technical forms, to expose the inadequacy of any judg- 
ment on the one hand, or of anyabsolution on the other, 
which does not penetrate beyond all external obliga- 
tions, and which fails to bring the soul into harmony 
with absolutely perfect and spiritual righteousness. 
The soul of the Reformer is seen struggling between 
an intense sense of his own evil, and a not less 
profound conviction that the message of the Gospel 
assures a complete deliverance from it. But these 
two convictions, which correspond, as we have seen, 
to the elementary dictates of the human conscience, 
rest upon the intensity of his apprehension of God, 
first, as the righteous Judge, by whom every thought 
and intent of his heart is discerned, and secondly, 
as his Saviour, by whose gracious promises he is 
assured of his forgiveness and deliverance. 

It is in virtue of this vivid apprehension of his 
relation to God that the word Justification acquires 
so vivid a meaning to him. God to him was all 
in all. He cared for nothing in heaven or earth if 
he could only know, or certainly believe, that God 
forgave him his sins, received him, in spite of his 
inherent evil, into His love and favour, would purify 
him from his iniquity, and uphold him by His right 
hand. The question is of a personal relation be- 
tween two persons—the one the pure and Almighty 
God, whose awful footsteps Luther perceived with- 
out him in the earthquake and the storm, and within 
in the implacable murmurs of his conscience; the 
other, himself, a feeble creature, conscious of innu- 


VII.] the Reformation. 177 


merable sins, and sensible of numberless miseries in 
himself and in the world around him. If this God 
were his God, and he were assured of it, all would be 
well. He would be certain of final deliverance ; and 
meanwhile no sufferings, wants, or distresses, could 
mar his peace. The more intensely the momentous 
and supreme character of this relation was appre- 
hended, the more did it reduce into complete sub- 
ordination all forms, ceremonies, and authorities, 
except so far as they brought the soul into direct 
communion with this God of infinite judgment and 
infinite salvation. An indulgence, or an absolution, 
which only released the soul from certain penalties, 
was not merely valueless; it was worse than nothing. - 
It tended to obscure the vita] conviction, that har- 
mony with the will of God, at whatever cost, through 
whatever punishments, by whatever means, was the 
one necessity of the soul of man. 

But the establishment of that harmony must 
needs be a long and painful process; and by what 
means was the soul to be assured that it would be 
ultimately attained? It was certain that it could 
only be attained by the gracious operation of God 
Himself, by His forgiveness and His consequent as- 
sistance. But how is that assurance of reconciliation 
and of ultimate deliverance from evil to be gained ? 
Not, certainly, by experience. That would too gene- 
rally lead to a very different conclusion. The first 
vision of Divine holiness tends to appal the soul, 
and to make confidence seem unattainable; and in 

N 


178 The Faith of [Lxcr. 


one respect this apprehension increases with the 
erowth of the spiritual life. The holier a man be- 
comes, the deeper is the witness of his experience 
that he is a sinner, the more marvellous does it seem 
to him that he should be absolutely forgiven, and 
finally restored to perfect unity with God. On what 
then can we rely? On nothing but the word of Christ, 
who promises us the forgiveness and the grace of God. 
Faith in that word is the only possible means for ob- 
taining true peace of soul, When a man’s conscience 
accuses him, and by that very accusation would make 
him afraid of God, and drive him from the Divine 
presence, when his own sufferings and the sufferings 
_ he sees about him seem to be so many signs and 
evidences of the wrath of God, he turns to the blessed 
word of reconciliation—a word confirmed by the 
sacrifice of life, and written in the blood of the new 
covenant; on that word of Christ he rests His soul, 
and on the faith of it he possesses, through all tempt- 
ations, an unwavering peace. 

In short, once let the thought be fully appre- 
hended that God is a God of perfect righteousness, 
and that the life of the human soul consists in 
union with Him; and faith in deliverance by Him 
becomes the indispensable condition of existence. 
The sense of temporal misery, which gives rise to 
pessimism, is slight and trivial, compared with that 
which possesses the soul when this vision of its 
spiritual destiny, and of its inherent evil, dawns 
upon it; and the longing for some Divine assurance 


VII.) the Reformation. 179 


of forgiveness and salvation becomes its deepest 
passion. It is a longing which nothing can satisfy 
but the word and promise of God Himself. That Word 
is Christ. The life and the words of Christ embody 
the word of God. There, and there alone, it is that 
the plain and definite promise is revealed on which 
a man may build his faith, and by virtue of which 
he may enter into the conscious and assured joy of 
reconciliation and of ultimate salvation. God is re- 
vealed in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. 
He can nowhere else be seen in that gracious capa- 
city. He may be perceived elsewhere ruling and 
judging the world; but nowhere else can He be 
perceived reconciling it. Accordingly, in proportion 
as a man enters with full sympathy into the sins, the 
sufferings and the deaths of the men and women 
around him, he will find that none but a suffering 
and a dying God—nay, a God who Himself bears our 
sins—gives sufficient witness that He is a reconciling 
God. But that witness, as it is the last that can 
be given, is also sufficient, and there is no sin or 
suffering for which the Capes is not an adequate 
consolation’. 

Such were the cardinal eencinles of the Refor- 
mation, as represented in its most. characteristic 
utterances, and they will be recognised as essentially 
identical with the main elements of faith in every 
previous stage of its development. The vision of God 
produces an intense sense of evil and repentance ; 

© See Note 17. 
N 2 


180 The Faith of [ Lizcr. 


that sense of evil creates a corresponding craving for 
deliverance ; the soul which, in the first instance, is 
appalled and terrified by its apprehension of God, 
is attracted by His word and promise; and, as it 
realizes this gracious assurance, it is forced by its 
very misery and helplessness to throw itself back 
on Him, and to believe that His salvation is as 
infinite as His justice. These are the two character- 
istics which are combined in our Lord—on the one 
hand, His revelation of judgment, as in the Sermon 
on the Mount; on the other, His revelation of salva- 
tion, supremely displayed in His death on the Cross 
and in His resurrection, and in the gracious promises 
He builds upon them. It has been said of late 
that Protestantism ‘has been pounding away for 
three centuries at St. Paul’s wrong words, and 
missing his essential doctrine.’ It will be seen, if 
these considerations be just, that the main elements 
of Protestantism are written in the cardinal dictates 
of the human conscience, illuminated and reasserted 
by the promises of the Gospel. They may be ex- 
pressed in various intellectual forms; they may be 
associated with metaphysical theories which are in- 
defensible. But, everywhere, they tend to bring the 
soul of man into intimate relation with God, and 
thus at the same time to deepen its sense of sin, and 
to quicken its faith in forgiveness and deliverance. 
The lack of this sense of relation to God was recog- 
nised, two centuries before the Reformation, as the 
d Mr. Matthew Arnold’s St. Paul and Protestantism, p. 1. 


ai the Reformation. 181 


ereat danger of the Church, by a Schoolman who 
was one of the famous worthies of Oxford, and 
whose teaching probably influenced Wicliffe. Brad- 
wardine, Doctor Profundus, and for a brief time 
Archbishop of Canterbury, addressed Ad suwos Mer- 
tonenses, in 1344, three books De Causdéd Det contra 
Pelagium, in the Preface to which he declared that 
‘almost the whole world had gone away after Pe- 
lagius into error’. The formal principles of the 
Roman theology tended, in fact, more and more to 
favour that separation between God and man which 
it was the practical tendency of the Pelagian error 
to foster. Pelagianism is the grand heresy of the 
Western Church, as Arianism is of the Eastern; 
and they are closely allied in their tendency to 
remove God to a distance from us, and to obscure 
the intimate character of our relation to Him. In 
the formal theology of the Schoolmen, the loss of 
the Divine communion was not regarded as so 
fatal to the power of healthy action in human nature 
as to render man incapable of ‘turning and preparing 
himself, by his own natural strength and good works, 
to faith and calling upon Godf. In opposition to 
this view, the Reformed Churches revived the truth, 
that faith in God, with the conscious relationship 
to Him which faith implies, is the primary and 
essential law of man’s nature, so that without it he 
has lost the characteristic which mainly distinguishes 
him as man. Neither reason nor will are so indis- 
® See Note 18. _f Seé Note rg. | 


182 The Faith of [ Lect. 


putably the special distinction of man as his capacity 
and his need of living in conscious union and com- 
munion with an unseen Being, his Maker, his Judge, 
and his Saviour. His relation to God might be com- 
pared with that of a plant to the sun. The plant has 
its roots in the ground, and from thence, and from 
the air around, it mainly derives the nutriment 
from which its structure is built up. But the in- 
dispensable condition for extracting and assimilating 
that nutriment, the requisite without which the 
plant inevitably deteriorates, loses its virtue, and 
fails to display its beauty, is the light of the sun. 
But God is ‘the Sun of righteousness ;’ and thus 
‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, 
and, with wisdom, of every quality specially dis- 
tinctive and honourable to man. Let him lose 
this conscious relationship, let him become more 
sensitive to external laws and formal obligations than 
to that Being of infinite holiness and power who 
speaks to him in his conscience, and the light is gone 
out of His life, and corruption must inevitably ensue. 
The process of deterioration may, indeed, be a pro- 
longed one, as is the case in all natural processes ; 
and many of the beauties and graces of a happier 
condition may long remain. But the soul has ceased 
to be in communion with the Life of man, and 
nothing less than a sentence of death has passed 
upon. it. 

To restore this communion was the great work of 
our Fathers at the Reformation, and it was done by 


VIL] the Reformation. 183 


the great doctrines with which that movement of 
thought and life is identified. That which they pro- 
claimed was not, as seems too often supposed, a mere 
formal, metaphysical doctrine of justification by faith, 
depending upon an abstruse theory of imputation. 
Such theories were doubtless elaborated in the course 
of the struggle, and sometimes had mischievous influ- 
ences. But in substance the work of the Reformation 
was to lay fast hold of the main promises of the 
Gospel. Our Lord proclaimed that all who put faith 
in Him were safe in His hands for life and death, for 
time and for eternity. If men would trust Him, and, 
as that trust implies, obey Him, serve Him, and love 
Him, so far as their mortal weakness allowed them, 
He would be true to them, co-operate with all their 
efforts to keep His commandments and grow like 
Him, and would thus gradually remedy the cor- 
ruption of their nature. ‘This was His promise, 
His direct promise, to every soul; and the great 
Reformer taught that it could be accepted, and 
ought to be accepted, immediately, unhesitatingly, 
and without reserve. Not merely was it true that a 
man might believe it ; but he was bound to believe 
it—bound to believe a Saviour whose words and 
deeds, whose life and death, asserted an inalienable 
claim upon his heart and conscience. Thus be- 
lieving, he was at once delivered out of all fear, 
all condemnation, all servitude, and endowed with 
the freedom of a son of God. Once possessed of 
this spirit of sonship, men valued all the ordinances 


184 The Faith of [Lucr. 


and ministries of the Church as means for bring- 
ing them into direct communion with their God 
and their Saviour, not as instruments for interposing 
between themselves and Him. Their forgiveness for 
the past and their deliverance in the future were 
alike ensured by His sacrifice and by His union with 
them ; and in this faith they rose above all human 
terrors. They dared once more to look in the face 
an almost omnipotent hierarchy, supported by 
imperial power, to fear nothing so much as the 
condemnation of their own consciences, and to live 
and die the free children of God, over whom no 
human authority had any permanent control. One 
common taunt against religion is sufficiently answered 
by the history of the Reformation. Priests were then 
the means, and religion was then the instrument, 
by which men were delivered from servitude. It 
was the spirit of freedom and of fearlessness which 
reasserted itself in the utterances of the great 
German Reformer; and its echoes have shaken the 
spirit of bondage throughout Christendom. 

The first effect, in short, of this grand principle 
was, in the Reformer’s view, to establish Christian 
liberty on a basis which could not be shaken. It 
asserted that, in the last resort, the soul of man 
could abandon everything but the word and promise 
of God, and it consequently set men absolutely free 
from subserviency to any visible power. At the 
same time, as the soul derived this independence from 
its obedience to Christ, it submitted itself, like him, to 


VIT.] the Reformation. 185 


all subsisting authority, so far as was compatible with 
its supreme allegiance. When the Pope proceeded 
to assert claims which were fatal to these cardinal 
truths of the gospel ; when he placed himself, and 
the priesthood of which he was the head, between 
the soul and God, and made the absolving ministry of 
the priest ‘ generally necessary ’ for salvation ; when, 
in short, he asserted an inalienable claim over the 
conscience, his authority was of necessity repudiated. 
Some consequences of that overthrow of the existing 
system of authority must be considered in my next 
and last Lecture. But where no such undue claim 
was made, the effect of thus arousing in men the 
sense of direct responsibility to God, and of direct 
dependence upon Him, was to re-invigorate and re- 
establish all natural authorities. Fathers acquired a 
new sense of responsibility for their government 
of their families. Kings and nations re-entered into 
the possession of their due independence ; and the 
proclamation of the royal supremacy in England 
was the counterpart of the proclamation of Christian 
liberty in Germany &. 

It seems now sometimes supposed that the prin- 
ciples of liberty, and that spirit of hope and confidence 
by which the life of the better part of Europe has 
been characterised during the last three centuries, 
can henceforth stand by themselves, and are indepen- 
dent of any support from the great truths which the 
Reformation proclaimed. There is at present no 


& See Note 20. 


186 The Faith of [ Lect. 


experience to justify such a belief. Half Europe is 
still, in great measure, under bondage to the spirit of 
superstition and fear, and the larger part of the 
world is the victim of cruel idolatries or delusions. 
The power which originally emancipated men from 
that servitude may safely be relied on to effect a simi- 
lar deliverance ; but no other weapon has yet been 
successful. At all events, here alone shall we find 
the means of combining an unlimited apprehension 
of our own evil with a not less unlimited assurance of 
deliverance from it. Here alone, too, shall we find 
an adequate answer to some of the difficulties we 
contemplated at the outset of these Lectures. The 
most effectual, if not the only effectual remedy for 
that pessimism which seems now to weigh so heavily 
on the mind of Germany, and which finds its sad 
echoes in England, is to be found in the doctrine of 
the Cross, apprehended by faith, and as presented 
in passages like the following from the great Re- 
former :— 

‘The theologian of the Cross—he, that is, who 
speaks of a crucified and hidden God—teaches that 
punishments, crosses, and death are the most pre- 
cious of all treasures, and the most sacred of all 
relics, which the Lord Himself of this theology 
consecrated and blessed, not only by the touch of His 
most holy flesh, but also by the embrace of His 
supremely holy and divine will, and left them here 
to be truly kissed, sought, and embraced. Happy, 
indeed, and blessed is he whom God may deem 


VIL] the Reformation. 187 


worthy to have bestowed on him these treasures of 
the relics of Christ—or, rather, who understands that 
they are bestowed on him. For to whom are they 
not offered? As St. James says, “My brethren, 
count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations ;” 
for it is not for every one to have the grace and glory 
to accept these treasures, but only for the most elect 
of the sons of God. 

‘Many make pilgrimages to Rome and other holy 
places, to see the coat of Christ, the bones of the 
martyrs, the homes and the footsteps of the saints. 
I do not condemn them. But I grieve that we 
should be so ignorant of the true relics—namely, the 
passions and crosses which have sanctified the bones 
and relics of the martyrs, and have made them worthy 
of such veneration. Not only do we fail to accept 
them when offered to us at home, but we repulse them 
with all our might, and chase them away from place 
to place ; whereas we ought to demand of God, with 
the utmost thirst, and with perennial tears, that He 
would give us such precious relics of Christ, the most 
sacred of all, as being the gift of the elect sons of 
God. So sacred are these relics, so precious are such 
treasures, that whereas others can be preserved in 
earth, or when most honoured, in gold, silver, jewels, 
silk, these can only be preserved in heavenly, living, 
reasonable, immortal, pure, holy receptacles, that is in 
the hearts of the faithful, inestimably more precious 
than all the gold and jewels in the world »’ 


h See Note 21. 


188 The Fath of the Reformation. 


These meditations accordingly may be appropriately 
concluded by the closing propositions of the Reformer’s 
great disputation. They afford a vivid illustration 
- of the spirit in which the faith of the Reformation 
found its impulse and its strength :— 

‘Away with all those prophets who say to the 
people of Christ, Peace, peace, and there is no 
peace. 

‘Blessed be all those prophets who say to the 
people of Christ, the Cross, the Cross, and there is 
no Cross. | 

‘Christians must be exhorted that they strive to 
follow Christ, their Head, through punishments, 
deaths, and hell ; 

‘And thus trust to enter heaven rather through 
many tribulations than through a tranquil security1 


i See Note 22. 


LECTURE VIII. 


THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 


Epu. Iv, 13-15. 


Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge 
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the 
stature of the fulness of Christ ; that we henceforth be no more 
children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind 
of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby 
they lie in wait to decewe; but speaking the truth in love, may 
grow up into Him in all things, which ts the head, even Christ : 
trom whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted 
by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual 
working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the 
body unto the edifying of itself in love. 


IN the course of the Lectures of which the present 
sermon is the conclusion, we have mainly been 
engaged in considering the primary principles and 
grand outlines of Faith, and in elucidating and 
vindicating the foundations on which they rest. 
Whether, in the absence of verified knowledge, faith 
can afford us ‘the substance of things hoped for, the 
evidence of things not seen ;’ what are the reasons 
which render belief in God, and trust in Him, a 
matter of moral obligation ; what is the authority of 


190 The Faith of [ Lecr. 


the testimony we possess to a direct supernatural 
revelation from Him; what have been the essential 
characteristics of the faith thus produced, first, in the 
case of Abraham and the Jews, secondly, by the 
life and teaching of our Lord, thirdly, by the gift 
of the Holy Spirit in the early Church; and lastly, 
how these essential characteristics of true faith were 
revived at the Reformation—such has been the 
course of our enquiry. But there remains a question 
to which a brief reference was made at the outset 2, 
and which demands a more complete answer than 
was then practicable—the question, namely, which is 
presented by the divisions’ in the Christian world, 
and by the disappearance of that unity, with its 
corresponding authority, which was in great measure 
possessed in the early Church—an unity of which so 
imposing a semblance existed in the Church of the 
middle ages, and which has been the ideal of Chris- 
tians of every age. It was our Lord’s prayer that 
all that believed on Him might be one, as He and 
the Father were one»; and the text speaks of its 
being a principal object of the dispensation of the 
Gospel that we might all come ‘unto the unity of 
the faith °¢.’ 

A strange and sad contrast to these hopes is ex- 
hibited by the present state of Christendom. It isa 
- contrast which has been more visible and more painful 
since the Reformation ; but it existed long before that 


a Lect. I, pp. 24, 25. b St. John xvii. 20-23. 
© Not ‘im the unity,’ but ets rv évdrnra. 


VIII] the Church of England. 191 


great movement. Those cardinal truths we have 
hitherto been considering touched the deepest 
elements in the spiritual, moral, and intellectual 
nature of man; and when they came to be tested 
by experience and reflection, they provoked questions 
of the greatest difficulty. Our Lord and His Apostles 
raised, of necessity, difficulties of this character. 
Their words pierced ‘to the dividing asunder of the 
soul and spirit, and of ‘the joints and marrow’ of 
the inner man 4. Our Lord instituted Sacraments, and 
His Apostles instituted an organization of His Church, 
which involved the practical application, through all 
time, of principles which went to the root of the 
moral constitution of human nature, and which in 
their dividing and testing influence have proved 
‘sharper than any two-edged sword.’ The early 
adherents of Christianity, indeed, were chiefly divided 
upon points which concerned the central revelation 
of the Gospel, such as the real Divinity of our Lord. 
In later times, such controversies have, for the most 
part, been waged by those who stand outside the 
Church ; and the divisions by which, in later centu- 
ries, we have been perplexed, baffled, and disappointed 
have mainly concerned questions which can be de- 
bated without ostensibly impugning the truths and 
facts asserted in the Apostles’ Creed. They have 
arisen upon such points as the relation of the 
human will to Divine grace, the operation of the 
Sacraments, the nature and efficacy of Faith, the 


d Heb. iv. 12. 


192 The Faith of [Lxcr, 


inspiration of the Scriptures, the authority of the 
Church, and the organization necessary for its full 
vitality. It is chiefly upon points of this kind that 
Christendom is now divided. There are, indeed, 
flagrant symptoms of a partial recurrence within the 
Church itself to the vital controversies of early times. 
But if the Apostles’ Creed alone were in question, 
there would be visible throughout Christendom a vast 
and preponderant unity of belief. Although, how- 
ever, our difficulties may thus for the most part 
relate to subjects which, from one point of view, may 
be called secondary, they are not the less real and 
lamentable. They mar the oneness of the faith, and 
the unity of the Church; they lead some minds to 
doubt whether a revelation so divergently interpreted 
can be a supernatural revelation at all; and they 
tempt others to submit, in a kind of desperation, to 
the authority of that great Church which asserts so 
persistently the plausible claim to be the one in- 
fallible and accessible guide, through all these 
labyrinths of error or of doubt. 

Now, in meeting this difficulty, recourse is often 
had at the present day to a method which is marked 
by an error akin to one previously noticed in rela- 
tion to the primary doctrines of the Faith. It would 
in some measure disparage the importance of these 
controversies, and would promote unity by dwelling 
on the comparative insignificance of our points of 
difference, as compared with our points of union. It 
is a line of argument which lends itself with great 


VIII.) the Church of England. 193 


facility to the service of a generous and warm-hearted 
eloquence ; and exhortations conceived in this spirit 
are undoubtedly of great usefulness in their proper 
place. To borrow a phrase from Lord Bacon, we cer- 
tainly are tempted by our passions and by our partial 
knowledge to so consider ourselves as members of 
particular churches, communities or parties, as to for- 
get that we are Christians®; and it is well to have 
continually sounding in our ears eloquent voices re- 
minding us of our common relation to our one Lord. 
But the reproaches so frequently cast on the Christian 
Church, on account of the intensity with which dog- 
matic and disciplinary questions have been contested 
within it, are sufficiently refuted by the very facts on 
which they are based. No condemnation, indeed, can 
well be too strong for the unchristian tempers which 
have been displayed by some of the chief actors in 
those contests. They are sins which cannot be too 
clearly marked with reprobation. Yet history proves 
that, if greater passion has been displayed in theolo- 
gical than in other controversies, these controversies 
have also exerted a more important influence than any 
others upon-the spiritual, the moral, and even the 
political development of human life. It is indeed a 
safe general rule to regard with suspicion any judg- 
ment which pronounces mistaken the methods of ac- 
tion instinctively adopted by the great majority of 
mankind, and especially of civilised mankind. Those 
methods may be wrongly applied, and may produce 
e Essay Of Unity im Religion. 
0 


194 The Faith of [ Lect. 


disastrous results, but it is as perilous to repudiate 
the methods and tendencies themselves as to de- 
nounce syllogistic arguments or inductive reasoning. 
When we observe that in every age, without excep- 
tion, theological controversies have aroused more 
heat, more excitement, more energy than any others, 
it is only wise to presume that there is some other 
than a bad reason for it. 

The tendency, in fact, of some modern historians 
to undervalue the influence upon human nature of 
variations in religious and moral principles is strangely 
at variance with the evidence before them. It may 
be that the comparative stability of the social and 
moral order established among us renders it difficult 
for us to realize the possibility of any social system 
being undermined by the mere force of religious 
ideas. Yet the history of the world would appear 
to be, in great measure, a history of the manner 
in which religious ideas, often of an apparently 
abstract and subtle character, can determine the 
future of whole races, and of vast regions of the 
earth. Students of ecclesiastical history, for instance, 
are often perplexed at the large place occupied in 
the early Church by the controversies with Gnos- 
ticism ; and are inclined to wonder that such strange 
speculations should have had so much attraction for 
some minds, and should have excited so much alarm 
among the Christian Fathers. But the late Dean 
Mansel, in his Lectures on that subject delivered in 
this University, shewed how close an affinity those 


VITT.] the Church of England. 195 


speculations possess with some of the German phi- 
losophy which has so largely influenced the thought 
and character of modern times‘; and, perhaps, a still 
more forcible illustration of the importance of the 
Gnostic controversies is furnished by the spectacle 
forced upon our attention in India. In Brahmanism 
and Buddhism we may observe the practical result 
of theories akin to Gnosticism, carried out on a large 
scale, and applied generally to human nature. The 
fascination which can be exerted by such dreams, and 
their disastrous consequences, are there exhibited in 
a portentous experience 8. 

But illustrations may be found nearer home. 
There were of course periods in the history of the 
Western Church, when ideas and practices which 
have since culminated in the full Roman Catholic 
system were for the first time being introduced. 
In many of the men to whom the earliest definite 
intimation of such ideas was due, few can fail to 
recognize Christian teachers and leaders who, both 
for their personal character and for the services 
they rendered to the Church of their day, deserve, 
in the main, our warm admiration and our sincere 
sympathy. It would have required great discern- 
ment—a discernment given only to an Athanasius or 
an Augustine—to perceive in the first intimations of 
the idea of transubstantiation the introduction of 

f The Gnostic Heresies of the First and Second Centuries, pp. 14; 


15, 147, 165. 
8 See Mansel’s Gnostic Heresies, pp. 29-32. 


OL 2 


196 The Faith of [Lrcr. 


a principle which would modify the whole of Chris- 
tian worship, or in certain expressions and assertions 
of the Popes the germ of a doctrine which was 
destined to develop into Papal infallibility, and 
gradually to subvert the whole constitution of the 
Western Church. Yet these consequences were latent 
in those assumptions and in those forms of expression. 
A similar lesson may be drawn from the history of 
the Protestant churches. They have, as by some in- 
ternal law, allied themselves with special political 
and social dispositions, and they have severally tended 
to develop peculiar aspects of character and phases 
of thought. 

The fact may in great measure be explained by a 
consideration which, in the present day, is urgently 
insisted upon in most other departments of life, but 
which is strangely forgotten in respect to theological 
truths. It is fully recognized in other matters how 
the aggregation of men in society, together with the 
accumulation of influences in successive generations, 
tends to magnify special tendencies, and, by exag- 
gerating the degree in which they act, almost to 
transform them in kind. It would, for instance, be 
harsh and unjust, and contrary to the example of 
Athanasius himself, to pronounce that every bishop 
who favoured for a time the Arian or Semi-Arian party 
was himself consciously untrue to the Christian faith. 
But apart from the question of the orthodoxy of 
individuals, the danger was that what would some- 
times appear but a slight error in an individual, might, 


VII] the Church of England. 197 


if it had been perpetuated, still more, if it had been 
formulated, have tended to establish a school and 
mode of thought in which the distinctive truths of 
Christianity would have been obliterated. Human 
societies are organisms, subject to laws which resemble 
those of other organic bodies. Under a sufticiently 
powerful microscope, our bodies, which to an ordinary 
eye seem to consist of continuous matter, would be seen 
really to consist of a vast number of distinct atoms. 
Distinct as they are, they nevertheless combine under 
special laws, and form one organism, which, in its 
turn, reacts on the atoms themselves, and compels 
them, as it were, to move and act in ways not their 
own. Similarly, let us suppose a sufficiently distant 
observer, and we might conceive him viewing one 
of our human societies as a single body, contin- 
uous, not disunited, and compelling the individuals 
of which it is composed to move in ways they would 
never have chosen of themselves. To pursue the 
analogy a little further—just as a slight morbid 
process in the mutual relations of the atoms of our 
bodies may develop into a disease which involves 
the whole organism, so a slight error of doctrine or 
a fault of discipline, in relation to a few members of 
the Christian Church, may in course of time develop 
into a dangerous and fatal disease. The question 
is not as to the importance of the error, or of the 
morbid process, in relation to the particular atoms 
in which it arises, but as to its importance in rela- 
tion to the whole organism. It is thus that the 


198 The Faith of [ Lect. 


whole Papal system has grown out of errors and 
assumptions which it was extremely difficult to 
combat with sufficient vigour as they arose, and that 
the character and future of other Churches has been 
damaged by their unfortunate disregard of certain 
elements of Church doctrine and discipline. ccle- 
siastical history, in short, is a record of the manner 
in which under various temptations and influences, 
often operating almost unconsciously, forms of Chris- 
tian life and thought have been developed, which, like 
the Roman Catholic system, or the Calvinistic system, 
or the system of the Greek Church, have moulded, 
and have sometimes perverted, the character, the 
habits, and the tone of thought of whole races, and 
of many generations. 

The facts of history thus afford conclusive evidence 
that the instinct of the Christian world, or rather 
the instinct of mankind, has not been mistaken in 
attributing extreme importance to those variations 
in faith, even on poimts apparently secondary, by 
which Christendom has been, and is still, so grievously 
divided. This being the case, the question presses 
on us with much urgency by what means we are 
to seek a solution of the problems presented by 
these divergences, and what is to be our guide 
in practically applying that revelation which has 
been committed to the Church, and which is recorded 
in the Scriptures. In dealing with this problem we 
have first to consider the solution of it which is 
offered by the Roman Catholic Church, namely, that 


VIL. | the Church of England. 199 


she—or rather, as the claim now stands, the Pope— 
is endued with an infallible authority to decide all 
such uncertainties, and that it is our duty to submit 
ourselves absolutely to his judgment, abjuring re- 
hance, in the ultimate resort, upon our own reason, 
or upon the dictates of our own conscience. This has 
now become the paramount doctrine of that Church, 
and the first thing she demands of all who come to 
her is absolute submission to her authority. She repre- 
sents that submission as the necessary complement of 
a true belief, and she seems often regarded, by those 
who reject the principle of faith, as simply adding 
one article more to the creed of believers. 

In view of this claim, let us consider the posi- 
tion to which we have been brought by our previous 
enquiries. We have been lifted to an immense height 
above the merely moral and natural level from which 
we started. Recognizing that our souls are in 
communion with God, and that the voice of our 
consciences is His voice, we have been led by that 
voice to acknowledge His revelation, vouchsafed in 
successive utterances, until at length He spoke to us 
by His Son, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
We believe that our Lord, after His ascension, gave a 
further revelation to His Apostles, bestowed the gift 
of the Holy Spirit on those who believed on Him, 
assured all who were faithful of final salvation, and 
gave them the earnest of it in ever increasing de- 
liverance from sin, and in growth in grace. We are 
in direct communion with Christ. His Spirit speaks 


200 The Faith of [ Lecr. 


in our hearts, and is our ever present guide. Now 
let it be observed by what means a Christian has 
reached these heights of faith, and has been raised 
to a communion so vastly beyond the condition of 
man apart from Christ. Has it been by reliance on 
any such external and infallible authority as that of 
a visible Church? On the contrary. At the com- 
mencement of this grand ascent, the word Church 
could have no vital meaning for him. The authority 
of the Church is insisted on by Roman Catholic 
divines as the authority of a society founded by the 
Son of God incarnate ; and a man must believe that 
the Son of God was really incarnate before he has 
any reason at all to believe in the authority of 
a society founded by Him. It cannot seriously be 
supposed that a society like the Roman Church, 
or a person like the Pope, can claim our belief 
by virtue of a bare assertion that they are the de- 
positaries of all truth, without reference to any 
prior principles or facts as evidence in support of 
their claim. If the Roman Church is to have any 
valid claim on us, we must already, on grounds prior 
to her authority, have accepted belief in God, belief in 
the fact of His having revealed His will to us by Pro- 
phets and Apostles, and belief in His incarnation in 
the person of Jesus Christ. These immense acts of 
faith must have been made before the Roman Catholic 
claims have so much as an intelligible foundation on 
which to rest. Aman must believe in the first article 
of the Creed before he believes in the second; and he 


VIII] the Church of England. 201 


must believe in the second before he believes in the 
third, or in any alleged development from it. A man 
must be a believer in God before he is a believer in 
Christ as the Son of God, and he must be a believer 
in Christ before he is a Roman Catholic. 

If, then, we are capable of arriving at these mo- 
mentous conclusions on their own evidence, and by 
virtue of the inherent claim they assert over our 
conscience and our reason, does it not seem a very 
improbable supposition that their application and 
development in detail, whether in point of truth or of 
practice, should imperatively need a miraculous in- 
terposition in the form of a visible authority which 
was not necessary in order to enable us to reach 
them? Vastly important as the developments of 
Christian doctrine and practice have been shewn to 
be, they cannot be compared in importance to the 
primary truth that God was incarnate in Jesus Christ. 
But that truth must be accepted before the question 
of the character or the infallibility of the Church He 
founded becomes a practical one. What sufficient 
reason is there for supposing that the secondary prin- 
ciples of truth and practice need a support wholly 
different from that required by the original principles 
on which they rest? The assumption, in fact, in- 
cessantly reiterated by Roman Catholic controver- 
sialists, that revelation is valueless without a living 
_ and infallible guide, is at all events liable to the 
objection that it is contrary to the whole analogy 
of faith up to the point at which the assumption 


202 The Faith of [Lrcr. 


becomes intelligible. We are brought to faith in 
God, to faith in Christ, and to faith in the Holy 
Spirit, to belief in our Creator, Redeemer, and 
Sanctifier, on one set of grounds; and then we are 
suddenly told that we are helpless creatures, and 
cannot see our way for a single moment without 
having an infallible authority at our side. Such 
an utter annihilation of our independence, at the 
very moment when it has carried us to so lofty 
a height, may be conceivable; but it is certainly 
in the highest degree improbable. 

If, indeed, we recall more specifically the method 
by which we reach the grand primary conclusions 
of faith, this fatal vice of the Roman Catholic argu- 
ment may be placed in a still stronger light. It rests 
upon the assumption, more or less clearly acknow- 
ledged, of a certain untrustworthiness and incapacity 
in the conscience and reason of the individual, even 
when seeking divine guidance, in relation to spiri- 
tual truths. But on what is our whole belief in 
God and in Christ founded? On nothing but the 
imperative dictates of that conscience and that 
reason, dealing with the personal and historic facts 
presented to us. The primary elements of the 
Christian argument are necessarily common to Roman 
Catholics and to other Christians ; and they involve 
an appeal to the moral obligation of obeying the 
imperative dictates of the conscience. It has been 
shewn, in the course of these Lectures, that scepticism 
with respect to the existence of God ultimately 


VIII. ] the Church of England. 203 


implies scepticism with respect to ‘the categorical 
imperative’ of the conscience ». It involves a doubt— 
an avowed doubt—whether right be really supreme 
over wrong in the universe, whether there be a Judge 
of all the earth, who will execute judgment and 
righteousness in respect to all our acts, words, and 
thoughts. If the dictates of conscience affirming 
the reality of that judgment be uncertain, everything 
is uncertain. We may speculate about the existence 
of a First Cause; we may come to a_ theological 
opinion that such a Cause exists. But we cease to 
be imperatively bound to believe in a personal God 
who claims the whole allegiance of our souls. We 
are no longer in intimate and vital relation to Him. 
It is upon the intensity and the paramount obligation 
of this dictate of the conscience that the whole vitality 
of religion depends, and when aman begins to doubt 
the primary truths of faith, the main effort of the 
Christian must be to force him back relentlessly upon 
the witness of his conscience, to insist upon its im- 
perious authority, and to ask if he can either dispute 
the meaning of its utterances, or dare refuse obedience 
to them. The conscience and the reason—these are 
the two faculties to which we must in the last resort 
appeal in order to sustain belief in God and in Christ ; 
and just in proportion to the intensity with which 
their witness is apprehended and obeyed is the reality 
of that belief. But the corner-stone of religion having 
thus been based upon the unreserved appeal to these 
h See Lect. II, p. 44. 


204 The Faith of [ Lect. 


two faculties, the Roman Catholic system suddenly 
calls upon us to abandon all confidence in them, and 
to assume that they are valueless without an infallible 
interpreter. After they have served to lead us to 
the most momentous of all possible conclusions, the 
Roman Church suddenly cuts the ground from under 
our feet, and warns us not to advance a step further 
upon such insecure footing. If this warning be 
justified, every step that has been taken beyond the 
evidence of mere sense has been unjustifiable ; and 
faith ceases to have a valid starting-point. Con- 
science says, with respect to belief in God and in 
Christ, ‘it must be, and I ought to accept it” But 
the moment it says this respecting the secondary 
points in question in this Lecture, the Roman 
Catholic Church exclaims, ‘ you are an untrustworthy 
guide and must submit to my superior authority.’ 
Such an argument is an act of religious suicide; and 
it 1s accordingly not surprising that, in the countries 
where it prevails, men are driven either into blind 
superstition or into Agnosticism, if not Atheism. 
Some men and women, under the influence of fear or 
habit, trust themselves to the Church on her mere 
assertion. The rest yield to the compulsion of their 
reason and their conscience so far as to reject her 
claims; but they have learnt the lesson of distrust 
in those faculties too thoroughly to base a reasonable 
faith upon them. 

To take a definite illustration from recent facts, 
consider the case of the distinguished ecclesiastical 


peuLt:| the Church of England. 205 


historian who refused to accept the Vatican decree 
affirming the Pope's Infallibility. He declares that, 
according to his convictions, facts are against it, and 
that his historical conscience forbids his acceptance of 
it. How is he answered? Not, in the last resort, 
by a reply to his arguments, but by a simple de- 
mand for submissioni. The Church has spoken— 
Sic volo, sic yubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas. But 
if Dr. Dollinger is incompetent to decide whether, 
as a matter of fact, the Popes have been in- 
fallible, how can he be competent to judge of the 
ereat historical facts on which the whole authority 
of the Scriptures reposes, and of the truth of the 
evidence on which the Christian religion is based ? 
There must be some fact or truth from which even 
the Roman Catholic system started, and which is 
prior to it; and if our capacity for judging a sub- 
sequent fact or theological dogma be denied, we must 
abandon confidence in our capacity to judge of prior 
facts and dogmas. 

Accordingly, in rejecting the claims of the Roman 
Catholic Church, we are not simply refusing to add 
one article of faith the more to those which we have 
already accepted. On the contrary, we are refusing 
to admit a principle which would be fatal to all faith 
whatever. There is a terrible truth in the saying of 
an English divine, that a consistent’ Roman Catholic 
is a man ‘who has had the backbone of his con- 
science broken ;’ and to break the backbone of the 


i See Note 23. 


206 The Faith of [Lecr. 


conscience is to break the backbone of faith. It 
is thus that the primary principles of what is 
called Protestantism involve a revival of the essen- 
tial conditions of vital faith. Like many designa- 
tions which seem to arise by accident, that word 
is the key to the principles reasserted at the Re- 
formation. It implies the right and the duty of the 
human conscience to say No—to say No to assump- 
tions and to claims which are inconsistent with its 
clear and imperative dictates, to protest against abuses, 
usurpations, and falsehoods, however sanctioned. It 
is this general right to say No, as distinct from oppo- 
sition to particular errors, which is denied by the 
Roman Catholic Church in such cases as those of 
Dr. Dollinger, and in her elementary assumption of 
infallible authority. But the right to say Wo is cor- 
relative with the right to say Yes. The duty of saying 
No involves the duty of saying Yes; and it is pre- 
cisely because the conscience and the reason have 
this important prerogative that they are bound, under 
penalty of such terrible consequences, to exercise it, 
and to exercise it aright. When Luther declared 
at Worms—‘ It is neither safe nor honest for a man 
to act against his conscience—here I stand, I can do 
no otherwise, he was not merely protesting against 
particular errors; he was vindicating the principle 
from which faith originally arose, and to,which it 
must perpetually return for its reinvigoration. 

If, then, a Roman Catholic should ask us why, 
having advanced so far in faith as to accept the 


VIII.) the Church of England. 207 


revelation of the Creeds and of the Scriptures, we 
refuse to advance further, and to accept the infallible 
authority of the Church, our answer may be at once 
very simple and very decisive. We advance in faith 
so far as reason and conscience are allowed to accom- 
pany us, but no further. Neither the prophets of 
the Old Testament, nor our Lord, nor His Apostles, 
ask us, for one moment, to silence our reason or our 
conscience. They ask us, indeed, to go beyond the 
evidence of reason, on their authority, and to trust 
them further than we can see. But they claim to 
commend themselves ‘ to every man’s conscience in the 
sight of God;’ and they never require us to close 
our eyes to the dictates of moral or intellectual con- 
viction. It is because the Roman Church does make 
that request, because her first requirement of all who 
approach her is to submit their highest faculties to 
her authority, that we repudiate her. In a word, it 
is not merely because we protest against particular 
doctrines that we accept the honourable designation 
of Protestants. But we enter a solemn protest on 
behalf of conscience, on behalf of reason, on behalf of 
science; and we confine our allegiance to those 
divinely inspired authorities, and to those sacred 
Scriptures, which base their whole appeal upon these 
elementary voices of God within the soul and in the 
visible world. In a word, there are two extremes in 
this question of faith—Rationalism and Romanism. 
Rationalism consists in denying that there is any 
supernatural authority or supernatural revelation 


208 The Faith of [ Lecr. 


whatever ; Romanism consists in denying that any 
coordinate and independent authority can be exercised 
by the conscience and the reason. True faith consists 
in asserting that there are supernatural authorities, 
but that no supernatural authority can require us to 
silence the voice of reason and conscience. 

But it is objected, that, in this case, every Christian 
is left to his private judgment in respect to those 
secondary points of faith and practice which have 
been referred to. Such an objection leaves out of 
sight that which is in several respects the most im- 
portant privilege of Christians, and which is the 
cardinal fact in relation to the point under discussion. 
That fact 1s the presence with Christians, in propor- 
tion to their faithfulness, of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit 
of Truth. ‘It is expedient for you,’ our Lord said to 
His disciples, ‘that I go away ; for if I go not away 
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I de- 
part I will send Him unto you;’ and ‘when He, the 
Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all 
truth*,” No more ample promise could be recorded. 
According to the whole tenour of those gracious dis- 
courses, it applies to all faithful Christians; and it 
does but express in more direct and touching language 
that assurance of the gift of the Spirit which is 
recognised throughout the New Testament as the 
characteristic blessing of the present dispensation. 
St. Paul accordingly describes it as the especial 
office of the Spirit to preserve the unity of Christians 

k St. John xvi. 7, 13. 


VIL] the Church of England. 209 


by bringing into harmony the exercise of all their 
various gifts. ‘There are diversities of gifts, but the 
same Spirit ; and there are differences of administra- 
tions, but the same Lord. And there are diversities 
of operations, but it is the same God which worketh 
all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is 
given to every man to profit withal. For to one is 
given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another 
the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit. To 
another faith, by the same Spirit; to another the 
gifts of healing, by the same Spirit; to another the 
working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another 
discerning of spirits, to another divers kinds of 
tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame 
Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. 
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and 
all the members of that one body, being many, are 
one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are 
we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews 
or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have all 
been made to drink into one Spirit !’ 

Such is St. Paul’s view of the true source of Chris- 
tian unity. As members of the body of Christ, we 
are animated by the life of one personal Spirit; we 
are guided by His teaching, and controlled by His 
will. Here is the one sufficient reply to the Roman 
Catholic argument, that we need an infallible authority 
to direct us in the interpretation of the Scriptures 

ns Cor. xii. 4-13. 
B 


210 The Fath of [Lecr. 


and in the perplexities of moral duty. Whatever 
apparent force such an argument may carry is due 
to a disregard of the truth on which we have been 
dwelling. The answer is that though we cannot 
appeal to any visible and infallible Authority, we do 
possess an unerring Guidance ; and that we possess it, 
moreover, not merely in the ambiguous, distant, and 
tardy utterances of a human oracle, but in the voice 
of a Divine Spirit ever present with us, and help- 
ing us in all our infirmities. In truth, the Roman 
assertion of the necessity of a human and external 
authority amounts to a denial of this internal and 
Divine guidance, and to a high offence against it. 
The claim of the Pope to overrule every individual 
conscience in matters of faith and morals involves, if 
our Lord’s promise and its interpretation by St. Paul 
be true, a claim to overrule the voice of the Holy 

pirit ; and he who submits to the Pope renounces 
the guidance of the only Authority who can be really 
infallible. The apprehension, indeed, of moral and 
spiritual truth is necessarily a moral and spiritual, 
and not a merely intellectual act, and consequently it 
can never be maintained by any formal dictation. It 
will be true and living in proportion as the heart and 
conscience, as well as the intellect, are quickened, 
and this spiritual life can only be assured by that 
Holy Spirit who is present with every soul in pro- 
portion to its faith in Him, The errors and sins 
of Christians, and of the Church as a whole, are only 
too well explained by their failure to submit them- 


VIII] the Church of England. 211 


selves in all things to His direction and inspiration. 
Intellectual truth in spiritual things is ultimately 
inseparable from moral truth; and there is some- 
thing actually immoral in the attempt to establish 
an infallible dogmatic authority independent of a 
corresponding security for the moral condition of 
those who are subjected to it. The Spirit of God 
acts by the opposite method. He works in the 
hearts of Christ's people to purify their conscience 
and their will, and in proportion as they yield to 
this influence are they qualified to ‘know of the 
doctrine™,’ and to become united in the truth. 

It will further be seen that this principle provides 
a safeguard in itself against the undue assertion of 
private opinions. It follows from it that it is the 
bounden duty of every Christian, it is implied in 
the charter of his admission as a member of the 
Church, to maintain, as far as possible, union with 
his fellow Christians, and to act and think in har- 
mony with them. ‘This duty has a natural founda- 
tion; but it is elevated to an unprecedented and 
unsurpassable height by the doctrine of our Lord’s 
relation to those who believe in Him. Every 
Christian, by virtue of his faith, is in union with 
Christ, and by means of Christ’s Spirit is under 
His continual influence. The inevitable consequence 
is, that any Christian who fails to cultivate, so far 
as he can, communion with another, fails, in some 
measure, to cultivate communion with His Master 

m §t. John vii. 17. 
P 2 


212 The Faith of [Lecr. 


and his Master’s Spirit. Communion with Christ, 
subjection to His gracious influences, the gradual 
discernment of His will and His character, the in- 
creasing apprehension of His grace and truth—these 
are the essential elements in the Christian life, and 
in proportion as they are realised in individuals is 
the Church, as a whole, in a position to deal success- 
fully with the problems now under our consideration. 
‘ Abide in Me,’ says the Saviour, ‘andIin you.’ But 
the Christian is mistaken who thinks that this com- 
munion with Christ, and this influence of His Spirit, 
is only to be obtained in secret, spiritual intercourse. 
Christ, according to His saying, is to be discerned, in 
His various characteristics and graces, in His members. 
Accordingly, whatever Christian soul we meet, no 
matter in how humble or how lofty a station, no 
matter whether it be strong or weak, learned or 
simple, there, in proportion to its faith, is Christ by 
His Spirit working, and there may we discern 
glimpses of His grace and rays of His truth. The 
vast and infinite variety of human souls appears thus 
to furnish, as it were, an infinite number of reflecting 
surfaces, from each of which some gleams of the 
Saviour’s glory and truth are displayed. It is this 
which renders respect to others such an essential 
element in the Christian character. In every 
Christian we meet a man in whom the Saviour is 
present, and we are bound to treat him with some of 
that reverence which is due to his Master and to our 
own. It is thus that, in the teaching of St. Paul, 


VIII] the Church of England. 213 


_the principle of charity is inculcated in indissoluble 
connection with the truth that we constitute the 
body of Christ and are His members in particular ® ; 
and the same truth is illustrated in the memorable 
tradition, that St. John was incessantly reiterating 
at the close of his life, ‘Little children, love one 
another.’ © 

It is instructive to observe, that the very first 
utterances of the Christian Fathers bespeak their 
sense of the paramount importance of this principle, 
and of its correlative duty. The few remains we 
‘have of St. Ignatius are pregnant with an anxiety 
for the maintenance of unity among his followers, 
scarcely less deep than that of the beloved and loving 
Apostle. He is celebrated for the strong expressions 
he utters—whatever recension of his Epistles may be 
accepted—in support of the authority of Bishops. 
But without entering on the controversial side of 
those expressions, one thing is patent—that his 
practical purpose is to ensure the maintenance of 
unity among his flock ®. The Bishop is to him the 
symbol and instrument of unity, and it is with a view 
to this result that St. Ignatius is more immediately 
concerned to maintain episcopal authority. To the 
steady adherence of the early Christian Church to this 
principle seems due, in great measure, its firm ad- 
hesion to the cardinal truths ofthe faith. In the first 
centuries, as in subsequent ones, it is very observable 

n x Cor. xii, xiii. 

© See Robertson’s History of the Christian Church, vol. 1. p. 24: 


214 The Faith of [Lucr. 


how national and individual peculiarities led Churches _ 
and Teachers to lay undue stress on particular truths — 
and aspects of truth, until the analogy of the faith 
became distorted, and grave practical heresies tended 
to arise. But in the primitive Church such dangers 
were then averted by the check which never failed to be 
afforded bysome other community, perhaps in a distant 
part of the world, which apprehended the truth from 
another side, and was not liable to the same tempta- 
tion. It does not seem too much to say, that so long 
as the whole Church remained in free and charit- 
able intercommunion, heresies, whether doctrinal or 
practical, were sure to find their check and their 
correction. To offer one illustration, it is an in- 
teresting historical circumstance, and explains many 
of the facts on which Roman controversialists build 
their arguments, that Rome being the capital of the 
Empire, all impulses and theories found their way 
thither, checked and balanced each other, and thus 
produced a kind of equilibrium at the centre of the 
Christian world ; much as political or social theories 
which are exaggerated in the provinces are soon 
reduced to their true proportions when they are 
brought to London. 

But, on these principles, it is a cardinal rule for 
safety, alike in thought and in action, to bear in 
mind that neither as individuals, nor as churches, 
still less as particular parties within a church, is it 
possible for us to possess all gifts, or to perceive all 
the bearings of truth. To attain the full Christian 


VIL] the Church of England. 215 


character and to acquire a comprehensive appreciation 
of Christian truth a man must diligently cultivate 
communion with other Christians, must believe that 
they all have some message for him, and can display 
to him some gleams of his Master's truth and grace. 
In this spirit, in daily life, he will at once submit 
himself to teachers and learn from those he rules ; in 
this spirit he will visit the poor, and will listen for 
his Master’s voice by the bedside of the sick and 
from the mouths of babes. In respect to matters of 
controversy within the Church, he will feel that, at 
all events, no judgment can be relied on, which is out 
of harmony with the tradition and conviction of the 
Church in its purer times, and in its deeper current. 
The maxim, Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab 
omnibus, may be somewhat rhetorical in form; but as 
implying that every Christian, and every community 
of Christians, ought to be in harmony with the 
permanent, the general, and the essential convictions 
of the Church from the earliest times, it is but an 
expression of St. Paul’s principle that we are all 
members of one body. It is a principle so essential 
to the character of the Christian Church that we 
cannot despair of its being visibly asserted. If 
the poet could look forward to a time when 


‘The battle flags were furled 
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world,’ 


how can we be so faint-hearted as not to anticipate 
a time when Christian controversies will be sub- 


216 The Faith of [Lecr. 


mitted to a Parliament of Christians, a Federation 
of the Church ? 

But however this may be, these considerations 
seem sufficient to show that, subject to the obliga- 
tions of Christian communion, and, above all, of 
unity and harmony with the primitive Church, we 
may well be content to seek the gradual solution 
of the theological and moral problems presented 
by the state of Christendom in the patient appli- 
cation of the same principles which have led us to 
acceptance of the Christian faith itself, and in re- 
liance on the same Divine aid which has guided us 
so far. That aid is to be sought in the exercise and 
cooperation of all our various gifts—spiritual, moral, 
and intellectual, and in all the spheres of our action, 
whether ecclesiastical or political or social. In all 
we are acting as members of one body, and contri- 
buting to our mutual edification. In the natural 
sphere this process and the result towards which it 
tends are more and more recognised. The contro- 
versies and divisions of the Christian Church are 
urged as a reason for distrust in its claims by men 
who see no difficulty in recognizing the gradual 
education of the world at large, and who are con- 
fident of the steady solution of social and _ political 
problems. Why should not Christians have at least 
as much faith as philosophers? The history of our 
disunion is the history of our Jack of faith and of our 
sin ; and in proportion as we submit our whole hearts 
and minds, alike in life and in thought, in study and 


VIIL] the Church of England. 217 


in action, in theology, in philosophy, and in science, 
to the influence of that Spirit who is the source of 
all unity, will He harmonize our conflicting impulses 
and our various views of truth, ‘till we all come unto 
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the 
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fulness of Christ.’ 

Such a faith, such a grasp of the whole course 
of the Christian Church, and such a vision of the 
future, ought to be the special prerogative of Eng- 
lishmen. It was exemplified at the crisis of the 
Reformation, when such questions were even more 
distressing than they are now, by the great theo- 
logian to whom we owe that work on The Laws 
of Ecclesiastical Polity, which is on all hands recog- 
nised as a characteristic expression of the mind 
of the English Church. The force with which 
the problems we have been considering was then 
presented to the minds of our Fathers was over- 
whelming, alike in its suddenness and in its 
vehemence. Audacious as was the claim of the 
Roman Church of that day to represent an undi- 
vided Christendom, it had nevertheless imposed on 
the minds of men to a degree which cannot now 
be appreciated. Theoretically to divines, and prac- 
tically to men in general, the Pope was the ulti- 
mate source of all spiritual and moral authority ; he 
was the centre of the world, and his annihilation 
was like the annihilation of the sphere itself. It 
forcibly illustrates the tremendous weight of that 


218 The Faith of [ Lxcr. 


authority to reflect that nothing was adequate to 
its overthrow but an appeal to the word of God 
Himself. Satirists and humanists might counter- 
mine it; but it was not until the Scriptures were 
brought home to the people at large, not until they 
felt that they could appeal to a diviner authority 
than that of the Pope, that a real reformation was 
practicable. But when this vast, though usurped, 
authority had been overthrown by means of the 
Bible, men felt a craving for something which could 
visibly and adequately supply its place ; the Napo- 
leonic genius of Calvin erected the Scriptures into 
a similar authority, and the principle arose that the 
law contained in them ought to serve, like that of 
the Pope, for our direction in all things, without 
exceptionP. Such a theory possessed an immense 
attraction in an age which was sensible of struggling, 
through a period of anarchy, from an old order into 
a new one. We have not yet emerged from that 
period, but our difficulties, heavy as they are, are 
not so severe as those which pressed upon our 
Fathers. 

Now, amidst this turmoil, when the Papal party on 
the one side, and the Puritan party on the other, 
were clamouring for the assertion of only one law of 
existence, an English divine, a ‘mild and humble’ 


P Hooker’s Keclesiastical Polity, The Second Book. ‘Concern- 
ing their first position who urge Reformation in the Church of 
England: namely, that Scripture is the only rule of all things 
which in this life may be done by men.’ 


VIII.) the Church of England. 219 


man, as he is described, a country clergyman, and 
deriving, perhaps, some of his calm wisdom from that 
meditative life, had the courage to say to these dis- 
putants, in a voice which commanded attention, that 
instead of there being only one law to determine 
their actions and their thoughts, there were an 
indefinite number ; and that the wisdom of life con- 
sisted in striking a just balance between them, and 
applying them all in their various places and degrees. 
‘There are in men, said Hooker4, ‘operations, 
some natural, some rational, some supernatural, some 
politic, some finally ecclesiastical; which if we 
measure not each by his own proper law, whereas the 
things themselves are so different, there will be 
in our understanding and judgment of them confu- 
sion. The first book of his Heclesiastical Polity, 
from which these words are quoted, contains the sum 
and substance of his argument ; and it may well be 
regarded as the most characteristic expression of the 
English mind on these great controversies. Its com- 
prehensive review of the whole constitution of human 
nature has for its practical purpose to prove, that 
‘to measure by any one kind of law all the actions 
of men were to confound the admirable order, wherein 
God hath disposed all laws, each as in nature, so in 
degree, distinct from other". A vivid apprehension, 
indeed, of this truth is the virtue of an Englishman 
as much in religion and in theology as in politics. 
English divines have ever been too sensible of the 


a Eecl. Polity, Book I. ch. xvi. 5. * Eccl. Polity, I. xvi. 7. 


220 The Faith of [Lxcr. 


vastness and complexity of human nature to deal with 
it by system and rule. They have striven to allow 
every element of life its place and its authority. 
Reason, conscience, science, politics—all have been 
gathered within their view; and Faith, though 
superior to them all, has none the less been main- 
tained in harmony with them, and in sympathy with 
their just claims. Failures and errors in such an 
attempt have been inevitable; but no grander effort 
has ever been made—none more deeply rooted in 
faith in God, who is the ‘Maker of heaven and 
earth, and of all things visible and invisible, 

It is, indeed, a habit of mind easily misrepresented, 
and perhaps vulgarised. A distinguished writer, who 
is also an eminent statesman, has recently said that 
‘Luther, . . . the Huguenots, the Puritans—these, 
among them, have taken up the imaginative sides of 
the greatreforming movement. They exhibit, he says, 
‘all its poetry. Anglicanism shows little but the prose 
of compromise and the Via Medias.’ But is poetry 
thus to be confined to one-sided systems, moulded 
like the Roman Catholic, or the Calvinistic, after the 
model of a human imagination, and corresponding to 
a human ideal? If so, Plato and Bacon were right in 
banishing poetry from their Utopias. But the English 
Church system has a large poetry—a poetry like that 
of Shakspeare—indifferent to apparent unities of time 


s Mr. Gladstone in an article entitled, The Siwteenth Century 
arraigned before the Nineteenth, contained in Gleanings of Past 
Years, vol. ill. p. 224. 


VIIl.] the Church of England. | 221 


and place, chiefly careful to seize the grand truths 
and facts, whether of faith, or reason, or history, which 
are encountered in the great drama of the world, and 
to bring them together just so far as to enable them 
to produce their natural and awful impression upon the 
soul. Similarly its Articles are like the Aphorisms 
of its great Philosopher—no arbitrary anticipations of 
a final theological system, but the modest interpreta- 
tions of observed facts and truths, waiting to be 
harmonized by a fuller light, and a deeper experi- 
ence. While reserving that ultimate right of pro- 
testation which has just been vindicated, and appeal- 
ing to the Scriptures as the sole ultimate authority, 
the greatest English divines have been unanimous 
in the desire to submit themselves first to their 
own Church, and then to the Church universal +t, and 
have shrunk, as from a fatal vice, from any positive 
assertion of their own theories or systems. 

Such is the lofty and comprehensive, but at the 
same time modest, creed which a Bampton Lecturer 
on the subject of Faith is concerned to defend. It is 
summed up in the motto of this University, Dominus 
lluminatio mea :—God the light of the soul in the 
conscience, the light of man in His Son Jesus Christ, 
who lived and died and rose again for us and 
ascended into heaven, the light of His Church in 
holy men of old, who spake as they were moved by 
His Spirit, the light of reason in history and science, 
- and in all the manifestations of His wondrous works, 
t See Note 24. 


222 The Faith of the Church of England. 


and finally, the light of all who put their trust in 
Him, by the blessed assistance of that Spirit who was 
bestowed on us, as at this season, to guide us to 
a right judgment in all things. Such are the prin- 
ciples it has been the object of these Lectures to 
vindicate. That neither Faith may be sacrificed to 
Science as by Rationalism, nor Science and Reason 
to Faith as by Roman Catholicism, nor both to a 
system as in sectarian schemes, but that Faith and 
Science, Conscience and Reason, may each have 
their own, and that God in Jesus Christ may be all 
in all—such is the design of the Christian culture 
of this venerable University, and such the spirit 
which it is its mission to revive in this perilous 
but noble age. 


VITA ANIMAE DEUS EST; HAEC CORPORIS. HAC FUGIENTE, 
SOLVITUR HOC; PERIT HAEC, DESTITUENTE DEO. 


(Quoted by JoHNn of SaLisBuRY from modernorum quidam in 
De nugis Curialium, p. 127, ed. Lugd.) 





APPENDIX 


CONTAINING 


NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 





NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 


ENC) Libis beer Dig 1 


Tue following is the passage from Professor Huxley’s 
monograph on Hume, to which reference is made in the 
text :— 

‘Kant has said that the business of philosophy is to answer 
three questions: What can I know? What ought I to do? 
and For what may I hope? But it is pretty plain that these 
three resolve themselves, in the long run, into the first. 
For rational expectation and moral action are alike based 
upon beliefs; and a belief is void of justification, unless its 
subject-matter lies within the boundaries of possible know- 
ledge, and unless its evidence satisfies the conditions which 
experience imposes as the guarantee of credibility. 

‘Fundamentally, then, philosophy is the answer to the 
question, What can I know? and it is by applying itself to 
this problem, that philosophy is properly distinguished as a 
special department of scientific research, What is commonly 
called science, whether mathematical, physical, or biological, 
consists of the answers which mankind have been able to 
give to the inquiry, What do I know? They furnish us with 
the results of the mental operations which constitute thinking, 
while philosophy, in the stricter sense of the term, inquires 
into the foundation of the first principles which those opera- 
tions assume or imply. 

‘But thoug", by reason of the special purpose of philosophy, 

Q 2 


228 NOTE 1. 


its distinctness from other branches of scientific investigation 
may be properly vindicated, it is easy to see that, from the 
nature of the subject-matter, it is intimately, and, indeed, 
inseparably, connected with one branch of science. For it is 
obviously impossible to answer the question, What can we 
know? unless, in the first place, there is a clear understand- 
ing as to what is meant by knowledge; and, having: settled 
this point, the next step is to inquire how we came by that 
which we allow to be knowledge; for, upon the reply, turns 
the answer to the further question, whether, from the nature 
of the case, there are limits to the knowable or not. While, 
finally, inasmuch as What can I know? not only refers to 
truest knowledge of the past or of the present, but to the 
confident expectation which we call knowledge of the future ; 
it is necessary to ask, further, What justification can be 
alleved for trusting to the guidance of our expectations in 
practical conduct ? 

‘It surely needs no argumentation to show that the first 
problem cannot be approached without the examination of 
the contents of the mind; and the determination of how 
much of these contents may be called knowledge. Nor can 
the second problem be dealt with in any other fashion; for 
it is only by the observation of the growth of knowledge that 
we can rationally hope to discover how knowledge grows. 
But the solution of the third problem simply involves the 
discussion of the data obtained by the investigation of the 
foregoing two. 

‘Thus, in order to answer three out of the four subordinate 
questions into which What can I know? breaks up, we must 
have recourse to that investigation of mental phenomena, the 
results of which are embodied in the science of psychology,’— 
Hume, by Professor Huxley, 1879; Part II, ch. i. p. 48. 


NOTE 2. 229 


NOTE 2, p. 30. 


The word doxiud¢@ appears uniformly employed to express 
eareful examination, testing and putting to the proof. Thus 
St. Peter applies it (1 Pet.i. 7) to the trial of gold by fire. 
In the Septuagint it is similarly used for the refining of 
silver. So St. Paul employs it when he says (1 Cor. ili. 13) 
that the fire shall try every man’s work. It is hence applied to 
express the use of severe moral and intellectual tests. When 
St. Paul says (£ Cor. xi. 28), ‘Let a man examine himself, and 
so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup,’ the word 
is doxyuacérw éavtov. <A still more characteristic use of the 
word, perhaps, is to be found in the quotaticn from the LXX. 
in Heb. iii. 9: ‘When your fathers tempted me, proved me 
(€dox(uacdy pe) and saw my works forty years.’ To quote another 
forcible instance, when St. Paul says, 1 Thess. ii. 4, ‘As we 
were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even 
so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our 
hearts,’ the Greek for ‘allowed’ and for ‘trieth’ is the word 
now under consideration. God had not merely allowed St. 
Paul to be put in trust with the Gospel. He had approved 
him after severe trial ; and St. Paul accordingly spoke not as 
pleasing men, but as pleasing the God who continually tries 
and examines our hearts. Thus St. Paul does not treat the 
knowledge of God as something to be taken up or laid down 
by that simple exercise of volition which we associate with 
liking and disliking. It was a matter which required testing, 
proving, examining, by the same kind of patient and diligent 
process as we apply to test the character of the precious 
metals ; and the fault of the heathen was that they shrank from 
the effort involved in this process. This interpretation of the 
expression is further confirmed by the character of the word 
which the Apostle uses for knowledge, ériyywows, which is 
properly applied to express exact and accurate knowledge. 

The accusation, in fact, which St. Paul makes against the 
Greeks and Romans is that although the nature of God, His 
eternal power and Godhead, were to a great extent discernible 


230 NOTE 2. 


by them, provided they sought that knowledge with due 
earnestness and sincerity, they did not deem it worth while to 
bestow sufficient exertion upon this high aim. They did not 
bend their whole moral and intellectual energies to the search 
after God, and the knowledge of Him consequently escaped 
them. The Apostle’s words, thus understood, seem to cor- 
respond very justly with the course of Greek and Roman 
thought and life. His statement that ‘that which may be 
known of God is manifest in them,’ and that ‘the invisible 
things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly 
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even 
His eternal power and Godhead,’ appears to be justified on the 
whole by the course of Greek philosophy. It has been doubted 
whether any absolutely valid demonstration of the existence 
and character of God has yet been offered. But if we look at 
the facts, it is unquestionable that the highest thought of 
Greece, with its combination of moral and intellectual con- 
siderations, led to a deep conviction that the world was in the 
hands of one God, and that a righteous God. It was this 
combination of moral and intellectual considerations which 
chiefly distinguished Platonic thought; and it was in that 
school of philosophy that these conceptions were brought to 
the highest point they have attained without the aid of 
revelation, There was indeed something in the Socratic and 
Platonic method which is very aptly described by the word 
we have been considering. The Platonic dialectic was an 
elaborate analysis of the various conceptions which were 
presented to it, trying them as it were by fire, until only 
the pure gold remained. It is of the utmost importance 
to remember that this process of trial and examination did, as 
a matter of fact, conduct the human mind to the very thres- 
hold of revealed truth. The Christian revelation appeared in 
the fulness of time to guide it into the recesses of the sacred 
temple. 


NOTE 3. _ 281 


NOTE 8, p. 32. 


Thus Professor Max Miller, in his Hibbert Lectures for 
the year 1878, says (pp. 171-2)—‘ All that remains to us now 
is to advance, and to see how far we shall succeed in accounting 
for the origin of religious ideas, without taking refuge in the 
admission either of a primeval revelation or of a religious 
instinct. We have our five senses, and we have the world 
before us, such as it 1s, vouched for by the evidence of the 
senses. The question is, how do we arrive at a world beyond ? 
or rather, how did our Aryan forefathers arrive there?’ With- 
out enquiring whether Professor Max Miller is justified in 
treating the religious instinct as a mere phrase, it would seem 
strange that all reference to the moral sense or conscience 
should be omitted in this enumeration of the possible sources 
of religion, Even if it were due to evolution, so, on the same 
hypothesis, are our five senses themselves, and it has a similar 
claim to be regarded as an element in the case. A sense 
of the difference between right and wrong can hardly be 
regarded as included within ‘our five senses,’ or ‘the world 
before us, such as it 1s, vouched by the evidence of the senses,’ 
But, in some measure, it has always been a force in the world ; 
and a discussion of the origin of religion which fails to give 
it a prominent place would seem extremely imperfect. 

A similar enquiry is suggested when Professor Max Miller — 
says (p. 204) that the first prayer in the Veda ‘that sounds 
really strange to us’ is when divine beings ‘are implored to 
keep us from guilt. This,’ he proceeds, ‘is clearly a later 
thought. Why? Has any state of society been yet brought 
to light in which human beings had no conscience ? 

A little further, at p. 231, Professor Max Miller says, 
_ £These two ideas—darkness and sin—which seem to us far 
apart, are closely connected with each other in the minds of 
the early Aryans.’ How can such ideas seem far apart to those 
who are familiar with such words as ‘Everyone that doeth 
evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,’ or with the 
declaration, ‘This then is the message that we have heard of 


232 NOTE 3. 


Him, and declare unto you, that God is light and in Him is 
no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with 
Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But 
if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellow- 
ship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
cleanseth us from all sin’? The connection which Professor 
Max Miiller deems so strange has been at the very root of 
Christian thought ; and it is difficult to understand whom he 
can have had in view when he says that the ideas of darkness 
and sin seem far apart ‘Zo us.’ 


In connection with this subject, the following collection of 
testimonies from classical authors on the subject of the con- 
science may be interesting. The author is indebted for it to 
the kindness of Dr. Watson, of St. John’s College, Oxford. 


Quid enim potest esse tam apertum, tamque perspicuum, 
cum coelum suspeximus, coelestiaque contemplati sumus, quam 
esse aliquod numen praestantissimae mentis, quo haec re- 
gantur? ... Quod qui dubitet, haud sane intelligo, cur non 
idem, Sol sit, an nullus sit, dubitare possit. Quid enim est 
hoe illo evidentius ?—Cicrro, De Nat. Deor. lib. i. cap. 2. 


Ita dico, Lucili: Sacer intra nos Spiritus sedet, malorum 
bonorumque nostrorum observator et custos. Hic prout a 
nobis tractatus est, ita nos ipse tractat. Bonus vir sine 
Deo nemo est.—Suneca, Hyist. 41. 


Bona conscientia prodire vult et conspici. Ipsas nequitia 
tenebras timet. Eleganter itaque ab Epicuro dictum puto: 
Potest nocenti contingere ut lateat, latenti fides non potest 
... Ita est! tuta scelera esse possunt, secura non possunt... 
Nec ullum scelus, licet illud fortuna exornet muneribus suis, 
licet tueatur ac vindicet, impunitum est, quoniam sceleris in 
scelere supplicium est.—Sunrca, Epist. 97. 


Magna vis est conscientiae, et magna in utramque partem : 
ut neque timeant, qui nihil commiserint, et poenam semper 
ante oculos versari putent, qui peccarint.—Crcrro, Pro Milone. 

Magna vis est conscientiae, quam qui negligent, cum me 
violare volent, . . . se ipsi indicabunt.—Crcrro, Cat. ili. cap. 12. 


NOTE 3. 233 


Est quidem vera lex, recta ratio, naturae congruens, 
diffusa in omnes, constans, sempiterna: quae vocet ad offi- 
cium jubendo, vetando a fraude deterreat: quae tamen neque 
probos frustra jubet aut vetat, nec improbos jubendo aut ve- 
tando movet. Huic legi nee obrogari fas est, neque derogari 
ex hac aliquid licet, neque tota abrogari potest. Nec vero 
aut per senatum aut per populum solvi hac lege possumus. 
Neque est quaerendus explanator aut interpres ejus alius: 
nec erit alia lex Romae, alia Athenis, alia nunc, alia posthac, 
sed et omnes gentes, et omni tempore una Lex, et sempiterna, 
et immortalis continebit; unusque erit communis quasi 
magister, et imperator omnium Duvs, Tle legis hujus in- 
ventor, disceptator, lator: cui qui non parebit, ipse se fugiet, 
ac naturam hominis aspernabitur: hocque ipso luet maximas 
poenas, etiam si caetera supplicia, quae putantur effugerit.— 
Cicero, Mragm. lib. 11. de Repub. 


Nolite enim putare, quemadmodum in fabulis saepenumero 
videtis, eos, qui aliquid impie scelerateque commiserint, 
agitari et perterreri Furiarium taedis ardentibus: sua quem- 
que fraus, et suus terror maxime vexat: suum quemque 
scelus agitat, amentiaque afficit: suae malae cogitationes 
conscientiaeque animi terrent. Hae sunt implis assiduae 
domesticaeque Furiae.—Cricrro, Pro Roscio, cap. 24. 


Vis ad recte facta vocandi et a peccatis avocandi non modo 
senior est quam aetas populorum et civitatum, sed aequalis 


illius coelum atque terras tuentis et regentis Drt.—Crcrro, 
De Legib. ii. 4. 


Omnia enim benefacta in luce se collocari volunt.—CiceEro, 
Tuscul. ui. 26. 


Miraris hominem ad deos ire? Deus ad homines venit; 
imo (quod propius est) in homines venit. Nulla sine Dro 
mens bona est. Semina in corporibus humanis divina dis- 
persa sunt, quae si bonus cultor excipit, similia origini 
prodeunt, et paria his, ex quibus orta sunt, surgunt; si 
malus, non aliter quam humus sterilis ac palustris, necat, 
ae deinde creat purgamenta pro frugibus.—Senrca, Lpist. 73. 


234 NOTE 4. 


Circumretit enim vis, atque injuria, quemque ; 
Atque, unde exorta est, ad eum plerumque revortit. 
Nec facile est placidam, ac pacatam degere vitam, 
Qui violat factis communia foedera pacis. 
Et si fallit enim Divom genus humanumque, 
Perpetuo tamen id fore clam diffidere debet: 
Quippe ubi se multei, per somnia saepe loquentes, 
Aut morbo delirantes, protraxe ferantur ; 
Et celata diu in medium peccata dedisse. 

Lvoret. lib, v. 1151. 


Hic consentiamus, mala facinora conscientia flagellari, et 
plurimum illi tormentorum esse, eo quod perpetua illam 
sollicitudo urget ac verberat ... Multos fortuna liberat poena, 
metu neminem.—Suneca, Epist. 97. 


Note 4, p. 37. 


It has been much discussed of late whether morality would 
lose if Christian influences were superseded by some form of 
purely natural culture; and such an enquiry bears closely on the 
question whether the application of the doctrine of evolution to 
ethics would weaken the vitality of moral convictions. It 
seems strange that from a Christian point of view such ques- 
tions should be deemed so much as open to discussion. One of 
the three great articles of the Christian faith is a belief in God 
the Holy Spirit, who, in answer to prayer, bestows upon us His 
supernatural guidance and assistance. Assuming this to be 
true, there remains no room for comparison between the two 
influences; and in any remarks on the subject, it seems 
desirable to mention this at the outset, lest, in arguing upon 
other grounds, this momentous power in Christian Faith 
should appear to be overlooked. It is, indeed, impossible 
to avoid introducing into our field of view some of the super- 
natural elements in Christian Faith, and so far there must 
remain a complete disparity between the terms of the com- 
parison. But our faith operates by natural influences as well 


NOTE 4. 2385 


as by supernatural; and even its supernatural truths and 
realities have in some respects a natural action upon us. 
Thus the person of our Lord Jesus Christ is divine, but it is 
also human; and He acts upon us not only by supernatural 
grace, but by natural personal relations. We may here 
perhaps find a fairly common ground for contrasting the 
operation of our faith with that of unbelieving culture. Let 
us mainly ask what is the natural effect on our minds of 
Christian faith as contrasted with the natural effects of 
Sceptical Culture. 

Such culture takes various forms in different schools of 
thought, such as that of the Positivists, or that of Mr. 
Herbert Spencer. But, in all, its essential idea is that of 
the gradual improvement of life by the operation of social 
forces ; for physical forces may, for the purposes of argument, 
be regarded as involved in these. ‘The mutual action of 
human beings upon each other, their relative wants, instincts, 
passions, and affections, are regarded as exerting, on the whole, 
a steady upward pressure upon individuals; and by a skilful 
use of the arts of education, organization, and government, 
life, it is urged, may be indefinitely elevated. By philoso- 
phers, who look at the subject from the point of view of 
physical science, the process is regarded as analogous to the 
evolution supposed to prevail in the animal world, by which, 
under the pressure of the necessities of existence, higher 
qualities are progressively developed in the species. Now it 
is to be observed, in the first place, that there is nothing in 
the least inconsistent with Christian belief in attributing to 
the operation of these natural influences of organized human 
society an extremely high value. It may, indeed, as will be 
presently seen, well be doubted whether their ultimate effects 
could be relied on if Christianity were not, as it were, per- 
petually renewing the raw material of human nature on which 
they work. But that they are among the most potent means 
of human elevation is unquestionable, Christians, indeed, are 
the very last persons who should undervalue them; for the 
conviction of the unity of men, of the intimate dependence 


236 NOTE 4. 


of every member of the human family upon the rest, and 
of human development depending upon the maintenance of 
that union—these convictions are so essentially Christian, 
that the Gospel might well be maintained to be the real 
source of those modern ideas of social culture which would 
fain dispense with it. St. Paul’s language might almost be 
that of a philosopher of the present day, when, in images 
drawn from the intimate union of the members of the human 
body, he describes the almost physical interdependence of the 
members of the Christian organism. Accordingly, as a matter 
of fact, the social influence of the Church as a whole upon its 
members, by means of that discipline of which the abeyance 
is lamented in our Commination Service, was in the early 
Church one of the most powerful influences for maintaining 
the standard of Christian life. The Church, in fact, whatever — 
its other characteristics, was from the first eminently a society 
for the culture of all righteousness and graciousness among 
its members. That which first of all struck the impartial 
eye of the Roman statesman, who observed it in its early 
vigour, was that its members bound themselves by an oath 
and a mutual pledge to renounce all vices. To Pliny’s eye, 
the Church was a society visibly stamped with the ‘seal’ of 
St. Paul—‘ Let every one that nameth the name of Christ 
depart from iniquity.’ The Church was the first example of 
an association for this mutual culture of its members in 
righteousness ; and the existence of such a society constitutes, 
perhaps, the most vital distinction between the Christian and 
the pre-Christian world, even when contemplated from a purely 
natural point of view. If, therefore, in any degree, Christi- 
anity appears at a disadvantage at the present time in respect 
to its employment of social forces for the purposes of moral 
culture, this can be due only to the Church having fallen 
short of her ideal and of her earliest and purest form. How 
to recover that form and approach nearer to that ideal, amidst 
the complex forces of modern life, is a most difficult problem. 
But now, not less than at the time of our Reformers, such a 
restoration of primitive Christian culture is ‘much to be 
wished.’ 


NOTE 4. 237 


Our faith, therefore, is so far from disparaging those 
methods of social culture upon which non-Christian systems 
rely, that in principle it claims to be their parent, and it 
would fain receive them back into the Christian household. 
But there remains one point, at any rate, in which it would 
seem, to say the least, extremely desirable that the influence 
of any such form of social culture should be supplemented. 
For permanent moral ends, indeed, it may appear as we 
proceed that such a supplement is essential ; but very simple 
considerations may suffice to. indicate its immense importance. 
It would seem obvious that the social forces which a society, 
as a whole, can exert upon its members are the resultants of 
the forces contributed by the individual members themselves, 
and must therefore vary, both in their potency and in their 
direction, in proportion to the character and the vigour of the 
individuals. The process of evolution or development, in 
whatever degree it may operate, depends upon the acquire- 
ment of special excellences by individuals, and it is in the 
cumulative effect of these individual excellences that the 
elevation of the race consists. It is not of material import- 
ance to what these individual excellences may be due—whether 
they are mere modifications produced by the pressure of 
external circumstances, or, as would seem in some instances, 
the result of forces inherent in the stock, but previously latent. 
In any case, the improvement of the individual cannot fail to 
enhance the value of the social force he contributes to the 
community. Now, if this be the case, it would seem to follow 
that, under certain circumstances, social influences, without 
being either disparaged or neglected, may become of less 
practical importance than influences dealing in the first 
instance with individuals. Let it be granted, for the sake of 
argument, that in any human society, the influence of the 
whole body upon its members will gradually tend to improve 
them. Nevertheless, if we can directly improve the members 
individually, by raising them towards their ideal, we shall, in 
the first place, anticipate in great measure the effect of the 
social process, while we shall also enhance the efficacy of that 


238 NOTE 4. 


process itself. Consequently, the first question which should 
be asked by an advocate of social culture is whether there 
exist means for raising individuals, by independent and 
immediate action, above the level already attained by them. 
Is it possible for him to sharpen and perfect his tools one by 
one, before he combines them in his great social machine ? 
Now, it is on this critical point that all systems of sceptical 
and purely social culture appear to fall short of the Christian 
faith. They fall short, moreover, of necessity, and by the 
very law of their existence. On their hypothesis, the indi- 
vidual is, and ought to be, the product of society. He is its 
child, determined by it, and to be judged primarily, if not 
solely, by the tests it supphes. To attempt, therefore, to 
raise an individual, by direct influence, above the level of the 
existing social standard, is, to say the least, to incur a great 
risk of misdirecting his development. It is in:possible to be 
sure that he is being properly trained and developed unless 
that training and development are in harmony with the whole 
society of which he is a part; and it would seem certainly 
safer to leave the society, as a whole, to determine what that 
harmony dictates than to attempt to anticipate its judgment 
by private experiment. The same consideration may be put 
in another form, by observing that it is in the nature of the 
case impossible that any system of purely social culture should 
recognize a fixed and definite standard of individual excel- 
Jence. It is impossible, for the simple reason that the society 
is, by the hypothesis, engaged in working out this standard. 
The more true such a system is to its principle the more does 
the famous description of the Baconian method apply to it. 
It is a system ‘which never rests; its law is progress, A 
point which yesterday was invisible is its goal to-day, and 
will be its starting post to-morrow.’ Evolution, by its very 
nature, is evolution towards an unknown goal; and to attempt 
to fix that goal is to assume a prophetic vision. Various 
methods may, indeed, be laid down for determining the true 
path of progress—that of utility, for instance, or that of 
happiness ; but they are only methods for determining the 


NOTE 4. 239 


immediate direction of the path we are pursuing, and they 
cannot tell us whither it will ultimately lead. But it follows 
that if these systems of sceptical culture offer no absolute 
standard of individual excellence, it must be impracticable, or 
at least inconsistent, to attempt the immediate elevation of 
individuals to a high standard by individual influences. It 
would not even seem safe to inculcate on a man that he should 
aim at the standard actually recognized at a given time by 
the society to which he belongs; for, on the hypothesis, a 
deviation on his part might be a first step in a better direc- 
tion, and the question whether it were or were not could only 
be decided by the experience of the society. In a word, 
conceive men, if possible, deprived of any guide to their 
actions but such as their nature supplies, and in theory, the 
whole of morals is, by virtue of the hypothesis, reduced to 
a state of flux; and individuals, instead of being moulded 
in accordance with a definite standard, must be left to be 
fashioned in accordance with the forces operating upon them 
from moment to moment. 

Accordingly, the great philosopher who stemmed the tide 
of a similar moral flux in ancient Greece sought for visions of 
divine ideals as the only solid ground on which he could plant 
his feet. He felt after them, if haply he might find them ; and 
they proved in many instances to be not very far from him. 
But the full revelation of that after which Plato groped is the 
cardinal truth of the Christian faith. In the person of our 
Lord Jesus Christ we recognize the ideal perfection of man— 
a perfection not less absolute and eternal than that divine 
nature which is indissolubly united with it. Here is a fixed 
and unalterable standard to the test of which every individual 
through all future ages may bring his conscience and his 
heart, and which may be applied to him, nor merely through 
the influence of Christian social forces, but immediately 
and personally. It should be observed that such a revela- 
tion furnishes the only conceivable standard for personal 
beings. If there be a standard at all for different things 
of the same kind, it must be something of the same kind 


240 NOTE 4. 


as the things themselves. By rules and laws we may, in- 
deed, approximate indefinitely to the description of a perfect 
standard, but the standard itself must be of the same nature 
as that of which it is to be the test. The only perfect 
standard of a horse would be a perfect horse. Perhaps in no 
living organism but man is there such a standard. If there 
be no fixity in species there certainly is none. But at all 
events the only conceivable standard for a person is a person, 
and the only possible standard for a man must bea man. If such 
a man does not exist, or is not known, there is no fixed moral 
standard for the human race. There may be certain rules 
and laws, more or less fixed; but there can be no permanent 
ideal at which every one may aim. Moreover such a standard 
though a fixed, is far from being a rigid one ; for the character, 
revealed by the acts and words of a person, is by no means 
limited to circumstances similar to those within which such 
acts and words operated. It is discerned behind them, in 
infinite elasticity of application, and its impalpable spiritual 
influence can impress itself upon every moral nature. There 
is no influence which more steadily grows in delicacy and 
sureness of touch than that of sympathy with a person ; and 
even if we had to rely upon the purely natural effect of the 
revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, that revelation would 
mould into more and more sympathy with itself all characters 
which, with due reverence and affection, submitted themselves 
to its influence. But we have not to rely upon merely natural 
influences ; and in order to do justice to our Faith, even in 
this single point of contrast between it and sceptical systems, 
it becomes necessary once more to pass for a moment into the 
shrine of the deeper verities of our creed. Mr. Mill has 
acknowledged the supreme excellence of this Divine Ideal, 
and has said that it would be no unsatisfactory guide for a 
man’s life to endeavour always so to act that Christ might be 
supposed to approve his actions. What, then, should be the 
influence of such an ideal upon one who believes that he has 
to act, not merely so that Christ would approve his actions, if 
He saw them, but that he is living now in the presence of 


NOTE 4. 241 


Christ, that he will hereafter stand face to face with Him, and 
that upon his direct personal relation towards that Person 
the whole of his destiny depends? Professor Tyndall, in no 
friendly spirit to our creed, said the other day that—‘ Facts 
rather than dogmas have been the ministers of the power that 
has moulded us—hunger and thirst, heat and cold, pleasure 
and pain, sympathy, shame, pride, love, hate, terror, awe— 
such were the forces’ which wove the web of man’s physical, 
intellectual, and moral nature. It is precisely such forces as 
these that the direct relation of the human soul to one who is 
perfect man and perfect God is fitted to evoke, and to evoke 
in a strength compared with which all other forms of the 
same forces are insignificant. The Christian dogmas, which 
are often treated as something abstract and apart from life, 
had their origin, and have now their essential importance, in 
the fact that they are the necessary conditions of an intelligent 
faith in this permanent relation of a personal soul with the 
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their value consists in the 
fact that they alone enable us rationally to believe that in 
Him, perfect God and perfect Man, we possess the eternal 
Lord and Master and Ideal of men, whom it is possible for 
reasonable human beings to love and to follow, ‘ with all the 
heart, with all the soul, with all the mind, and with all the 
strength.’ 

Such, then, in a few essential points, appear to be some of 
the relative bearings of Christian faith and the moral culture 
contemplated by adherents of the evolution hypothesis. They 
may be summed up by saying that Christian faith, even when 
regarded without reference to some of its supernatural and 
most characteristic powers, contains within itself all the good 
influences which sceptical culture offers; but that it supplies 
a cardinal necessity in which they are deficient. It recognizes 
in the highest degree the importance of social influences. It 
believes that only by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the 
bond of peace, only by the union of the various gifts bestowed 
upon various men, can we ‘all come to a perfect man, to the 
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.’ But it also 

R 


242 NOTES 5, 6. 


believes, and the history of the Church abundantly confirms 
the belief, that by the direct personal influence of our Lord 
Jesus Christ individuals can be directly and immediately 
endowed with a new spiritual life, and can thus be perpetually 
contributing new spiritual forces to the social action of 
Christians upon each other. In a word, the Church provides 
that supreme ideal which no other religion and no other 
philosophy has been able to furnish ; she brings individual 
souls into union with it; and she is thus perpetually re- 
generating the primary and constituent forces of human life. 
—lrom a paper read by the author at the Church Congress, 
Croydon, in 1877. 


NOTE 5, p. 62. 


See the author’s Boyle Lectures on Christianity and Morality ; 
Lect. VIII., First Course, pp. 162-164. Fourth Edition. 


NOTE 6, p. 70. 


Professor Clifford’s Essay on The Ethics of Belief, republished 
in his Lectures and Essays, vol. i. p. 177, expresses very effec- 
tively a tone of thought which is peculiarly characteristic of 
an influential school of scientific scepticism. It is distinguished, 
indeed, from the extravagant Paper which follows it, on the 
Lthies of Religion, by containing little which directly impugns 
the faith of Christians, though there are a good many oblique 
insinuations against it; and as will appear in the sequel, I 
venture to think that the tests of belief the article lays down 
are, on the whole, strongly confirmatory of the validity of 
Christian evidences, as generally received. 

The following observations on this Essay were drawn up by 
the author at the time of its publication, and were read at the 
Victoria Institute. Their chief purpose is to call attention to an 
essential difference in principle between the spirit of Christian 
thought and the disposition of mind which the article in 


NOTE 6. 243 


question represents. The difference is frequently disguised, 
or reluctantly recognised, on both sides; and it is the more 
desirable it should be distinctly acknowledged, and that the 
practical issue it involves should be fairly faced. 

To state this difference concisely, it is whether in matters 
of religion and morals we are to build upon grounds of Faith 
or upon grounds of Science. In stating the issue in this 
form, it is not, of course, implied for a moment that there 
can be any conflict between the legitimate and ultimate results 
of the two principles. Their essential harmony is, and has 
always been, a primary axiom with the greatest Christian 
teachers, and to avow belief in it ought to be a superfluous 
precaution. The spirit of the following observations would 
again be wholly misunderstood if they were supposed to be 
prompted by any lack of sympathy with Science. But the 
best things, as a rule, have their special provinces and spheres 
of action, and it by no means follows, because the scientific 
spirit is admirable in itself, that it ought to be allowed to 
determine our religious thought and our moral conduct. 
Such, however, is the tacit assumption, not merely of Pro- 
fessor Clifford’s article, but of a large proportion of modern 
argument on this subject, alike on the part of the advo- 
cates as on that of the impugners of the Christian Faith. 
Christianity seems too frequently regarded as a sort of 
scientific system, composed of a number of propositions on 
very mysterious subjects; and the question assumed to be 
at issue is the possibility or impossibility of verifying’ such 
propositions. Now, there may be some truth in this as- 
sumption with respect to the primary verities of religion, 
though the general reception even of these is probably to a 
ereat extent dependent on the testimony borne to them by 
those who exert most authority over men’s consciences, rather 
than on the direct arguments in their favour. It is obvious 
also that there can be no absolute division between the two 
spheres in question. The scientific man will, in practice, often 
act on Belief, while the religious man will check the dictates 
of his faith by the aid of Reason and Science. But, never- 

R 2 


244: NOTE 6. 


theless, there is this broad distinction to be drawn—that the 
object in moral matters is to act, not only to act rightly, but 
to act promptly, and to act earnestly, while the object in 
matters of Science is to know, and to know accurately, and 
for that purpose to reserve a decision for as long a time as may 
be necessary. The consequence is that for the purposes of the 
former province the habit to be acquired is that of forming a 
rapid and positive judgment upon mere probabilities—those 
being, by the nature of the case, the only materials for judg- 
ment accessible; and the men who have the greatest weight 
with their fellows in practical life, and who become their 
natural leaders, are those who form such judgments the most 
boldly, and follow them with the least hesitation. But in the 
province of Science the habit to be acquired is that of not 
forming decided judgments upon mere probabilities; but, on 
the contrary, of suspecting all appearances, and of demanding 
the most rigid demonstration before laying down a scientific 
truth as a sure basis for action. Our whole attitude towards 
religious and moral controversies must, it would seem, depend 
on our recognizing at the outset the existence, as a matter of 
fact, of these distinct provinces of human life, together with 
the distinctness of the habits they respectively require, and 
determining to which of the two such controversies belong. 
According as we relegate them to one or the other, we shall 
approach them with different mental and moral dispositions, 
and the ‘ Ethics’ we apply to them will proportionately vary. 
Now, in the article in question, this distinction has been 
so much overlooked that the special meaning of the word 
‘belief’ has been entirely left out of sight. It is a word of 
which the employment is somewhat vague in popular usage, 
but which will be generally recognized as possessing a fairly 
definite meaning for the purposes of such a discussion as the 
present. It is, at all events, very surprising to find that the 
distinction is not observed between belief and opinion— 
scarcely even between belief and knowledge. ‘ Belief,’ for 
instance, ‘that sacred faculty,’ is described as being ‘rightly 
used on truths which have been established by long experience 


NOTE 6. 245 


and waiting toil, and which have stood in the fierce light of 
free and fearless questioning.’ But what occasion is there 
for the exercise of this sacred faculty on truths of this kind? 
They are simple matters of knowledge, if knowledge can be 
predicated of any mental condition. It would be incorrect to 
speak of believing the law of gravitation ; we have a scientific 
knowledge of it. Belief is properly applied only to truths 
which are neither evident of themselves, like mathematical 
axioms, nor scientifically established, like the law of gravita- 
tion, but which are simply probable. Nor does it in strictness 
apply to all of these. Where the probability arises from argu- 
ment and from the nature of the case, our assent is not belief, 
but opinion. Faith or belief properly arises when our ground 
for accepting a statement is the testimony given in its favour. 
In the excellent definition of Bishop Pearson, ‘ Belief is an 
assent to that which is credible, as credible ’—not, that 1s, 
so far as it is probable, still less so far as it 1s demonstrable, 
but simply so far as it is supported by the evidence of 
eredible witnesses. If we admit the testimony of Conscience 
as that of a kind of independent authority, bearing its witness 
within each individual soul, we may bring under this definition 
those primary religious and moral truths, to which, as Kant 
observed, our assent has the character of faith rather than of 
opinion. We can hardly expect a very accurate discussion of 
the Ethics of Belief when belief is thus confounded with 
another mental operation; and it is similarly impracticable 
to form a just estimate of the claims of the Christian Faith 
when it is treated not as that which is credible, but as that 
which is knowable. 

Accordingly it may be described as the main doctrine of 
the article under discussion that the principles of scientific in- 
quiry ought to be predominant not merely within the sphere 
of knowledge, but within the whole sphere covered by this 
vague extension of the word Belief. It commences by in- 
sisting on the duty of inquiry, and it treats this duty as 
always and everywhere incumbent upon us. ‘No simplicity of 
mind, no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of 


246 NOTE 6. 


questioning all that we believe.’ Now this may be a very good 
rule within the domain of science, and may be a very proper 
attitude of mind for a scientific man; though it may be 
surmised with some confidence that Professor Clifford would 
not listen with much patience to any of those ingenious 
persons who exercise this universal duty by questioning the 
roundness of the earth, or the Newtonian system, or the 
impossibility of squaring the circle. But it may be safely 
said that, as applied to the practical business of life, such 
a principle is not only impracticable, but morally wrong. 
The daily course of life and the organization of society are 
made up of relations between man and man. Upon what 
are those relations founded? They are based, as a matter 
of fact, upon a general habit of mutual trust and faith. The 
child’s first necessity is to believe what is told it, and to 
believe this in respect to matters which it has no power 
whatever of investigating for itself. Its instinct, the first 
dictate of its nature, is to believe everything, to receive and 
to assimilate all that it hears and reads. If it be replied 
that it has sufficient evidence upon which to rest this habit 
in its experience of its father’s and mother’s trustworthiness, 
I would ask what parents would not be distressed to suppose 
that a child’s confidence was based upon a mere calculating 
estimate of this kind? The essence of the filial relation in- 
volves a moral confidence antecedent to experience, and capable, 
in fact, of sustaining severe apparent contradictions to that 
experience. 

The case, however, of trust between adults is perhaps a 
still stronger instance of this principle. Life would be imprac- 
ticable unless it were the primary rule to believe what is told 
us. There is not a single relation in adult life in which we 
are not compelled to depend upon the word of another—of a 
husband, a wife, a friend, an agent. We believe certain things 
respecting them—in their honour, their chastity, their affec- 
tion, their faithfulness. To what kind of condition would life 
be reduced if we were to apply to these matters ‘ the universal 
duty of questioning all that we believe?’ In some, at all 


NOTE 6. 247 


events, of these relations, it may be observed, it is in the 
nature of the case impossible that we should have ‘sufficient 
evidence’ for our belief. It is an unquestionable fact that 
many a man who has been trusted, and who has for years 
borne an unexceptionable character, has proved faithless; and 
it is quite impossible I can be sure upon grounds of evidence 
respecting any particular man that he is incapable of this 
baseness. But the first condition of a genuine and honour- 
able friendship is to believe this, to refuse to entertain a doubt 
of it, and, if need be, to uphold a friend’s honour until he 
is absolutely proved dishonourable. With respect to trust 
exercised in commercial relations, it might perhaps be said 
that it is a mere application of the principle of probabilities. 
As a matter of experience, if customers are trusted, the ma- 
jority of them will fulfil their engagements. It may be doubted 
whether tradesmen really do act in practice on this mere cal- 
culation of probabilities; but at all events the principle does 
not apply to the other relations of life just referred to. It 
would be an insult to a friend to say that you trusted and 
loved him because you thought it more probable he was true 
than that he was false. He expects from you, as the primary 
condition of true friendship, that you believe firmly con- 
cerning him that of which you cannot possibly have certain 
evidence. 

This habit of mutual faith is, in fact, the necessary cor- 
relative of the primary duty of men. That duty is the observa- 
tion of the Third Commandment—to speak the truth. But if 
it is the duty of my neighbour to speak the truth, it is equally 
my duty to believe that he does speak it. I have no right to 
suspect him of violating this obligation; and to do so is, in 
practice, to suggest the idea of falsehood to him, and to sow 
the seeds of it. A corrupt society is above all things marked 
by two characteristics—‘a universal’ habit ‘of questioning’ 
all that is said, and an equally universal habit of saying what 
is not true. On the contrary, in a healthy society, like that 
of England, habits of trust and of truth mutually support 
each other; and it has now become, for instance, a principle 


248 NOTE 6. 


of education that the best way to cultivate truthfulness in boys 
is uniformly to assume that they are speaking the truth, and 
always to give them the benefit of a doubt, even when appear- 
ances are against them. In place, therefore, of Professor 
Clifford’s assertion that ‘the credulous man is father to the 
liar and the cheat; he lives in the bosom of this his family, 
and it is no marvel if he should become even as they are,’ we 
should be much nearer the experience of practical life if we 
alleged this of the suspicious man, At all events, it may be 
safely said that the trustful man is father to the truth-speaking 
and the honest man; he lives in the bosom of this his family, 
and it is natural he should become even as they are. ‘ With 
what measure ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you 
again ;’ and no more forcible appeal can be made to a man’s 
conscience than by placing trust in him. 

Accordingly this principle, applied in its highest degree, 
has been the most powerful instrument of moral elevation 
and the indispensable means of all great achievements. In 
proportion as men have become as little children in this 
respect have they entered into the kingdoms both of heaven 
and of earth. It is an essential element in the power of 
great men, of those saints or men of genius who lift their 
race to a higher level, that they command the allegiance 
of numbers who are quite incompetent to judge whether 
there is sufficient evidence for the principles they assert. 
They throw the spell of personal influence over their fol- 
lowers, and induce them to act, with all the earnestness 
of intense belief, upon assumptions which it is impossible 
for them to verify. I will not insist on the well-worn 
example of Columbus and his followers, though it would be 
a somewhat harsh judgment to condemn them for having 
acted upon insufficient evidence in making the most momen- 
tous of geographical discoveries. But let us take the case, 
adduced by Professor Clifford, of the founders of those great 
religions, which, with whatever errors and corruptions they 
have been associated, have still been, beyond question, 
advances in the elevation of the human race. Let us con- 


NOTE 6. 249 


sider their influence, moreover, within the sphere in which it 
is admitted to have been legitimate—that of morality and of 
human experience. Has the chief instrument of these ad- 
vances been, as a matter of fact, the exercise of the duty of 
inquiry by the prophet’s followers? It is very well, and, 
doubtless, very necessary, to lay down rules after the event 
as to the limits within which a prophet’s authority may be 
accepted. But it is not by means of any such rules that the 
religion is established and the new morality enforced. It is 
by faith ; by personal submission to the personal influence of 
the prophet, and by childlike obedience to him. 

In matters of morality, in fact, this must always be the 
case, for moral habits can never to those who first adopt them 
be matters of experiment. If they are to be real, they must 
be adopted ‘ with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the 
mind, and with all the strength” This, at all events, is the 
ideal to be aimed at; it expresses the spirit in which the 
most characteristic points of Christian morality were ac- 
cepted, and it is utterly inconsistent with a doubting habit 
of mind. Professor Clifford admits that ‘there are many 
cases in which it is our duty to act upon probabilities, 
although the evidence is such as not to justify present belief; 
because it is precisely by such action, and by observation 
of its fruits, that evidence is got which may justify future 
belief. So that we have no reason to fear lest a habit of 
conscientious inquiry should paralyze the actions of our daily 
life.” But if the observations just offered are valid, we have 
great reason to fear such a result from a habit of sub- 
ordinating the duty of faith to the duty of inquiry. To 
repeat a question I have asked elsewhere*, what would be 
now the position of our race if the first Christians had con- 
fined themselves to tentative experiments on the relative 
advantages of monogamy and polygamy, instead of adopting 
the former in faith, in reliance on the testimony of the 
Apostles, and resolutely turning their backs upon the in- 
numerable influences to the contrary which the heathen 


* The Boyle Lectures for 1875. I. The Province of Faith. 


250 NOTE 6. 


society of the day brought to bear upon them? In a word, 
if we are to be guided by the experience of mankind, Faith 
and not Science must determine the practical order of life. 
The Just, according to Professor Clifford, shall live by 
Doubt. But the lesson alike of ordinary life and of the 
Scriptures is that the Just shall live by Faith. 

Whereas, therefore, the first principle laid down in the 
article under discussion as belonging to the Ethics of Belief 
is ‘the duty of inquiry,’ it would be more true to nature 
to substitute ‘the duty of faith.’ Distinguishing Belief 
both from Opinion and from Knowledge, and restricting it, 
substantially, to the field of testimony, it may be laid down 
as the first principle of the subject that all testimony has a 
primé facie claim to be believed, and that the onus proband 
always lies upon those who question it. Such, perhaps, is in 
great measure the force of that appeal to authority in matters 
of opinion which has lately been discussed by two eminent 
writers. It seems too narrow an interpretation to say, as 
Sir James Stephen does, that ‘authority is only another 
name for the evidence of experts.’ In practice it is much 
more than this; the consentient belief of a large mass of 
mankind, even though the experts among them be com- 
paratively few, having a distinct influence of its own. How 
far this influence may amount, as Mr. Gladstone has been 
understood to imply, to substantial evidence in favour of an 
impugned doctrine, would seem mainly to depend upon the 
character of the particular doctrine in question. The testimony 
of Christians to the fact that in their personal experience they 
have found the promises of the Gospel fulfilled must carry, 
for instance, and does carry, the greatest possible weight ; 
but it can only afford indirect support to the truths beyond 
their experience which are alleged in the Creeds. It cannot, 
however, reasonably be denied that such general testimony 
constitutes a primd facie claim in favour of a doctrine, and 
casts the burden of proof on those who question it. Our 
instinct—an instinct no less just than natural—is to believe 
what comes to us with such testimony, and from this instinct 
we must start. 


NOTE 6. 251 


But of course Faith, like all other instincts of nature, 
requires to be checked'by the exercise of reason. It is like an 
appetite, a hunger or a thirst, which will insist on asserting 
itself, but which must nevertheless be controlled, To say, 
indeed, that a man who has no time to make himself a 
competent judge of disputable questions ‘should have no 
time to believe,’ is like saying that a man who has no time 
to study medicine should have no time to eat. A man must 
believe, whether he will or no. He must act every day of 
his life on the basis of certain moral and _ political—nay, 
religious assumptions, of which few men can be competent 
judges, and all that can be asked of him is that he should 
give as thorough a consideration as his circumstances will 
allow to objections which are raised respecting them. It is 
perfectly easy, indeed, to imagine circumstances in which it is 
his clear duty to commit that ‘sin against mankind,’ as 
Professor Clifford designates it, of ‘keeping down and push- 
ing away doubts which may arise in his mind.’ A naval 
officer who has once accepted a commission, and is in charge 
of a man-of-war, has no business to let himself be distracted 
in the enforcement of discipline by doubts respecting the 
justice of the Mutiny Act. When, moreover, a man has once 
fairly weighed the existing evidence for and against a certain 
truth, it is simply a mark of a weak- and vacillating mind to 
be easily induced to re-open the inquiry. When, after full 
deliberation, we have taken one of two divergent roads, it is 
childish to be harking back at every difficulty and trying 
another track. Life was not made for men of science, but 
for men of action; and no man of action is good for anything 
if he cannot sometimes form a belief on insufficient evidence, 
and take a leap in the dark. 

Nothing, however, is more certain than that it is the i in- 
dispensable condition of progress to regulate by reason the 
action of even the most healthy instincts. Let the presump- 
tion only be established in favour of faith, as against scepti- 
cism, and there is nothing which is more desirable in the 
interests of a true faith than that the conditions under which 


202 NOTE 6. 


it is accepted should be rigidly scrutinized. We may hope in 
this way to attain to some scientific as well as moral test for 
distinguishing true from false religious beliefs. Moreover, 
to every man who is capable of reasoning, the moment may 
come when he is confronted with some objection which im- 
poses on him the duty of pausing in his course, and maturely 
judging of his position; while in proportion as opportunities 
allow him, he will be thankful to investigate anew the 
grounds of his faith, and to qualify himself to explain its 
reasonableness to inquirers or objectors. Accordingly, we 
may proceed with pleasure to inquire, with Professor Clifford, 
into the criteria to be adopted. In this part of his article 
he restricts himself with more accuracy to the proper mean- 
ing of belief, and simply investigates the conditions under 
which it is lawful to believe on the testimony of others. 
There appears to me, as I said at the outset, no reason to 
take material exception to the principles he here lays down. 
They are substantially those of Bishop Pearson—namely, that 
the credibility of testimony depends upon two conditions— 
first, the integrity, and secondly the ability of the witness. 
It is not enough to have a firm conviction of his honesty; we 
must also have ground for supposing that he has had the 
means of knowing the subject respecting which he testifies. 
So far there is no difficulty. But our eritic does not 
stop here. ‘There can be no ground, we are told, for sup- 
posing that a man knows that which we, without ceasing to 
be men, could not be supposed to verify. This is, perhaps, 
a somewhat extreme and inconvenient mode of expression ; 
but it seems reasonable to admit that the testimony of a 
man with no other than human powers cannot be accepted 
in evidence of a fact beyond all natural capacity of human 
experience. It is clear, for instance, to take one cardinal 
point of our faith, that no mere human testimony can be 
adequate evidence, or any evidence at all, in support of the 
assurance that the Lord Jesus Christ will hereafter judge all 
men. But it may here be pointed out that this observation 
does but illustrate the coherence of Christian evidence. It 


NOTE 6. 253 


is not upon mere human testimony that the assurance just 
mentioned is based. At this point the argument from 
miracles comes in, and by approaching it in this way its 
legitimate force may perhaps be more easily stated with 
accuracy. It seems overstating the case to say, as has been 
sometimes done, that the miracle is the proof of the doctrine. 
But this must at least be said, that it proves the person 
who propounds the doctrine to possess powers and to enjoy 
privileges which are beyond the ordinary range of humanity, 
and which transcend our measurement. In other words, we 
cease to be competent judges of such a witness’s ability. He 
may, for aught we can judge, know things which are beyond 
human experience, just as he can do things which are beyond 
human powers. We are, therefore, thrown back upon the 
sole test of his integrity. Shall we, or shall we not, believe 
his testimony on his own unverified and unverifiable assur- 
ance ? 

To this question I will return shortly; but I would 
interpose one observation on a further principle laid down by 
Mr. Clifford, which might at first be supposed to render any 
belief in a miracle inadmissible. To believe a miracle is to 
believe something entirely beyond our experience; and on 
what ground, it is asked, may we go beyond our experience 
in forming our beliefs? The answer given is that we may 
do so when that which we believe is like that which we 
know, or, in other words, when it assumes a uniformity in 
Nature. I am not concerned to inquire whether this rule be 
adequate or admissible without qualification. It is sufficient 
to observe that whatever may be its validity, Christianity 
complies with it by virtue of that analogy of Religion, 
natural and revealed, to the constitution and course of 
Nature, which is the subject of Bishop Butler’s great work. 
Butler, following Origen, has met by anticipation any argu- 
ment against supernatural revelation derived from the neces- 
sary unity and harmony—for ‘uniformity’ is a very ques- 
tionable word—of all divine operations. If, indeed, the 
word Nature be restricted to physical Nature, the harmony 


254 NOTE 6. 


of miracles with its constitution and course is easily con- 
tested. But such a limitation simply begs the question, 
which is whether the moral and spiritual forces of human 
nature do not necessitate, under certain circumstances, a 
supersession of mere physical consequences. It is a matter 
of evidence whether instances of such supersession have 
oceurred, and in considering the value of this evidence we 
are brought back to the question from which we started on 
this short digression. 

That question is whether we can accept the testimony 
of persons whose competence as witnesses transcends our 
means of judgment on the sole assurance of their word. If 
the previous arguments of this paper have been valid, they 
will at least have advanced us one important step in consider- 
ing this question. They will have shown that we must 
approach it from the moral rather than from the scientific 
point of view, and that we must consider it in relation to 
action, and not to speculation. The primary question is not, 
what are we to think? but what are we to do? These men 
—St. Paul, St. John, St. Peter—for reverential reasons I 
abstain from directly introducing into this discussion the 
Name which should be the most decisive of all—invite us to 
accept their guidance in life and their comfort in death, and 
to trust ourselves, body and soul, to the belief of their 
assurances. ‘The function of the Christian Church and of 
its ministry is to bring that invitation home to every man’s 
conscience, and as long as the Church performs its duty the 
appeal cannot be evaded. Shall we accept it, or shall we go 
elsewhere, to some modern guide, who will pronounce upon 
our duties and our destinies by the light of scientific forecast 
and legal evidence? The answer to that question can only 
be given individually, and its nature will depend, in the first 
instance, partly on the degree in which we retain that child- 
like habit of faith, of mutual trust between person and person, 
which I have endeavoured to vindicate as our normal and 
healthy disposition ; and partly on the force with which the 
moral and spiritual power of such Saints lays hold of our 


NOTE 6. 255 


souls. There are those to whom that force is overwhelming, 
and to whom it appears idle to compare it with the moral 
force of other religious leaders. It touches at once the 
strongest and the tenderest fibres of the heart. It controls 
the fiercest passions and supports the gentlest. It is as- 
sociated, in a manner which no similar influence has ap- 
proached, with whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. To those 
who are sufficiently sensible of this intense moral illumina- 
tion, the supposition that it is associated with false testimony 
on matters of supreme moment is inconceivable. The case 
completely fulfils Hume’s condition that, to establish a 
miracle, ‘the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood 
would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours 
to establish.’ It seems idle to draw ‘ psychological parallels,’ 
as has recently been attempted, between a moral giant like 
St. Paul and a worthy gentleman like Sir Matthew Hale, 
and still worse to compare the dark and confused morality of 
other Eastern religions with the grace and truth which came 
by Jesus Christ. His Apostles appeal to my whole being, to 
every moral sense of which I am conscious, to my weakness 
and my strength, my sin and my repentance, my intellect 
and my heart, and evoke towards themselves, and still more 
to One beyond themselves, that complete allegiance of the 
whole man which is designated Faith’. I do not pretend to 


> There could hardly be a better illustration of the claim of the Apostles in 
this respect than is afforded by the two following parables, which I take the 
liberty of extracting from Sir James Stephen’s article on Authority in the 
April number of the Nineteenth Century, 1877. He appears to suggest their 
application to the claims of modern religious authorities. Whether or not 
those authorities would have occasion to shrink from such a test, there is 
nothing they would more desire than that it should be applied to the Apostles, 
Perhaps the strongest claim of Christ and His Apostles is that ‘they have 
proved themselves to be our superiors by appealing to the faculties ’"—above all 
the moral faculties—‘ which we have in common’ :— 

A blind man and a seeing man were once discussing the existence of sight. 
The seeing man told the blind man that he had a faculty by which he could 
perceive innumerable things which he could neither hear, touch, smell, nor 
taste, and which were at a great distance from him. The blind man chal- 


256 NOTE 6. 


have a scientific knowledge of divine things, or to rest my 
convictions upon a scientific demonstration ; but I can venture 
to say that ‘I know in Whom I have believed.’ Such a 
belief will be supported by collateral evidence, acquiring from 
age to age a cumulative and converging force; but its 
essential virtue will in all ages be derived from the vital 
sources of personal love and trust. 

Such, I would suggest, are in substance the Ethics of 
Belief, as contra-distinguished from the Ethics of Science. 
Their essential peculiarity is that they are concerned in the 
first instance with our relation to certain persons, rather than 
to certain truths. They thus bring into play those obligations 
of trust and loyalty on which all social life is founded, and 
they render our religious convictions a matter of personal 
allegiance instead of mere opinion. The first question a 
Christian is asked is not whether he believes certain truths, 
but whether he believes in certain Persons; and he is a 
member of a perpetual society whose fundamental law is 
allegiance to its Head. The vitality of our religion and its 
influence for good have always been in proportion to the 
distinctness with which this characteristic element in it has 
been realized. In the early ages of Christianity, as Dr. 
lenged the seein man to prove his assertions. ‘That,’ said the seeing man, 
‘is easily done. Hold me by the hand. You perceive that I am standing 
by you. I affirm that if you will walk fifty steps along the side of this wall, 
which you can touch with your hand, so as to be sure that you are moving 
straight on, you will find such and such objects, which I specifically describe, 
and as to the existence of which you can satisfy yourself by your own 
fingers.’ 

The blind man readily admitted that the seeing man had proved his 
assertion. 

Of two men with eyes, A. and B., A. declared that he could see what went 
on in the sun, moon, and fixed stars, and that when he said ‘see’ he meant not 
exactly common seeing, but a superior kind of seeing, very hard to describe to 
any one who did not possess it, which he called ‘intuing. B. (who had a 
good pair of eyes of his own of the common kind) challenged A. to read the 
Times newspaper at a distance at which B. could not read it, A. failed to do 
so. ‘ Why,’ said B., ‘ should I believe that you can ‘“intue” things in Sirius, 
when you cannot read small print on the other side of the room? If you 
want me to believe that you possess faculties of which I am destitute, you 


must prove yourself to be my superior by appealing to the faculties which we 
have in common.’ 


NOTE 6. | 257 


Newman has shown, this personal devotion was predominant 
over all other influences, and constituted the supreme motive 
power of the Gospel. The great achievement of the Reforma- 
tion was to revivify it, and to substitute a personal faith, 
involving trust in a person and self-surrender to Him, for 
mere habits of assent and formal obedience. The effect, 
wherever the Reformed teaching took root, was to revive at 
the same time the faculty of faith between man and man, 
and thus to reinvigorate society. Possibly a similar revival 
is equally desirable at the present day in order to hold in 
check the disintegrating forces now at work amongst us. 
We cannot, at all events, be too careful not to be driven from 
this ground in upholding or in propagating our religious 
belief. The question at issue in the first imstance is not 
whether we think certain opinions on theological questions 
more tenable than others, but whether we believe certain men 
more worthy to be followed and trusted than others. Could 
their testimony be shown to be incompatible with truth 
scientifically established, of course their authority would be 
proportionally weakened, if not overthrown. But until this 
has been done the faith we have once pledged to them 
imposes on us obligations of trust and loyalty similar to 
those involved in other personal relations, and we can no 
more be always questioning their authority than we can be 
always investigating the faithfulness of a friend, a wife, ora 
husband. We are willing to entertain such an inquiry upon 
good cause shown; but our whole presumption is in favour 
of faith and not in favour of doubt. Of the two errors, it is 
safer in matters of practice, both for the individual and for 
society, to err on the side of belief and trust than on the side 
of doubt and hesitation. 

Such considerations, it may be added, seem to have an 
important bearing on the question now under discussion as 
to the influence upon morality of a decline in religious 
belief. As the Dean of St. Paul’s has observed, the question 
cannot be properly discussed unless it is understood definitely 
what belief and what morality are intended. But one thing 

s 


ad 


258 NOTE 7. 


is evident, that a decline in Christian belief involves a decline 
in the personal influence exerted by our Lord and by His 
Apostles. It is impossible that men who feel themselves 
competent, like most sceptical authors, to criticize the state- 
ments of St. John or St. Paul with as much freedom as those 
of any other teachers should submit themselves to their 
moral and spiritual influence as completely as Christians, 
who accept such Saints as supreme authorities, and believe 
them to have been in possession of truths far beyond our 
natural ken. The great personages of the New Testament 
must cease to be, in anything like the same degree as before, 
the personal guides and leaders of our moral and spiritual 
life. Whether morality in the abstract would lose in 
authority may be a matter for argument. But it seems 
scarcely questionable that Christian morality would in prac- 
tice lose one of the most potent forces which sustain it. If 
we would avert such a misfortune, we must adhere to the 
old, and it is to be feared too much forgotten, Ethics of 
Belief. 


NOTE 7, p. 81. 


In illustration of this argument the author takes the liberty 
of quoting the following admirable passage from the sixth 
volume of the Sermons of M. Bersier, of Paris, a volume 
which he cannot too earnestly recommend to the attention 
of all who are seriously interested in this great controversy. 
The subject of the discourse is Le Témoignage des Apétres :— 

‘ Arrétons-nous devant ce mot de témoins, pour mieux saisir 
Vidée qu’il exprime, et pour en apprécier la portée. 

‘Toute société repose sur le témoignage; il n’est pas une 
science, pas une entreprise collective qui puisse se fonder et 
se soutenir sans la confiance accordée a la parole humaine. 
Chose digne de remarque! Tous les jours ’homme trompe 
Vhomme, et malgré cela homme ne peut se passer ni se 
lasser de croire 4 homme. Voyez, par exemple, le monde 
de l'industrie. A chaque heure des sommes gigantesques se 


NOTE 7. 259 


risquent sur une simple signature, et méme sur quelques mots 
échangés. Voyez le monde de la science.... Le nombre des 
affirmations que nous acceptons sur l’autorité d’autrui est in- 
finiment plus grand que nous ne le pensons tout d’abord. Ces 
axiomes scientifiques que nous répétons continuellement, et 
qui forment le fond de toute éducation sérieuse, combien y en 
a-t-il dont nous puissions rendre un compte personnel et que 
nous fussions capables de prouver d’une maniére rigoureuse 
sil prenait a quelqu’un la fantaisie de nous sommer de le 
faire? Lia foi d’autorité existe dans le camp de la libre pensée 
comme ailleurs. Beaucoup de jeunes gens (et plait a Dieu 
quwil n’y en efit que des jeunes) croient avoir tout dit quand 
ils ont invoqué la critique. Ils disent “la critique a prononcé” 
avec le méme accent confiant et tranquille que d’autres em- 
ploient en disant: “l’Eglise a décidé.” Ils croient faire acte 
de jugement personnel au moment méme oti ils jurent i verba 
magistri, sar la foi qwils accordent 4 leur maitre. C’est qu’on 
ne changera pas la nature des choses; or Dieu a voulu que, 
nul ne devant vivre pour soi-méme, nul ne put se suffire a 
sol-méme. 

‘Si cette loi divine est vraie, si elle est universelle, il faut 
nous attendre a la retrouver aussi dans la manifestation de la 
vérité religieuse. Dieu aurait pu illuminer directement tout 
homme; sans doute il l’a fait dans une certaine mesure, en 
imprimant sur toute conscience les ineffacables caractéres de la 
loi naturelle, il peut le faire encore en répandant dans une ame 
la clarté d’une grace surnaturelle, mais c’est 1a l'exception ; 
dans la régle, Dieu a voulu que la vérité révélée parvint a 
homme par le moyen de Phomme; il lui a plu que l’Eglise 
fit fondée sur un témoignage, il lui a plu qu'elle n’échappat 
point aux conditions de toute société humaine, qu’elle fit ex- 
posée aux doutes, aux discussions, aux attaques, aux luttes de 
toute nature ; et, de méme qu'il a permis que son Fils, pure et 
parfaite expression de la divinité, pit étre “en butte a la con- 
tradiction” (Luc ii. 34), abandonné, livré aux mépris injurieux, 
aux soufflets et aux crachats des Scribes et de la populace, il a 
permis que, dans son incarnation prolongée dans la langue et 

) $2 


260 NOTE 7. 


dans l’histoire des hommes, la vérité religieuse fit soumise & 
toutes les chances extérieures, 4 toutes les fatalités apparentes, 
a toutes les défaites temporaires, et qu'elle poursuivit ainsi a 
travers les siécles sa marche douloureuse, se relevant de toutes 
ses chutes, survivant 4 toutes les défaillances, 4 toutes les in- 
fidélités de ses défenseurs, renaissant de la mort méme, pour 
s’imposer a la conscience humaine, pour l’agiter, la tourmenter 
et lui arracher le eri que les possédés adressaient autrefois au 
Christ: ‘ Qu’y a-t-il done entre toi et moi” ? | 

‘Mais en livrant ‘ainsi en apparence la vérité révélée 4 tous 
les hasards de histoire, Dieu a pris soin de la conserver pure, 
inaltérée, authentique, tellement qu’elle puisse étre la méme 
dans tous les siécles et s’offrir 4 tous ceux qui la cherchent 
dans la sincérité de leur ceeur., I ne se pouvait faire en effet 
que la personne de Jésus, que sa parole, que son ceuvre, que 
tout ce qui constitue le fond primordial et Vessence du chris- 
tianisme ptt étre livré aux conjectures et toujours remis en 
question, et c’est a cela que le témoignage apostolique a 
pourvu. Des hommes ont été choisis qui ont suivi le Christ 
depuis le jour ot le Précurseur le leur désigna sur le bord du 
Jourdain, jusqu’au jour ot il quitta la terre; ces hommes ont 
été avec lui chaque jour et chaque heure pendant son minis- 
tére; ils ont vu sur les collines, ou sur le bord des lacs de 
la Galilée, sur les places publiques ou dans le temple de 
Jérusalem, comme dans les jardins retirés de Béthanie, dans 
la campagne de Césarée ou dans le pays de Sidon; ils l’ont 
entendu haranguant les foules ou leur parlant 4 eux-mémes 
dans l’intimité de la chambre haute; ils étaient 14 quand la 
multitude lui criait hosannah, et quand des cris de mort lui 
annoncaient son prochain supplice; ils Pont contemplé dans 
la splendeur du mont de la transfiguration et dans Vhorrible 
agonie de Gethsémané; ils l’ont vu subissant le baiser du 
traitre et emmené par des brigands; l'un d’eux l’a suivi de 
loin et l’a renié trois fois; un autre a assisté A son supplice ; 
il a recu de lui sa mére comme un legs sacré; puis tous ils ont 
été les témoins de sa résurrection ; ils n’y voulaient pas croire, 
et ils y ont cru. Ils lont vu, ils ’ont entendu converser avec 


NOTE 7. 261 


eux ; ils ont recueilli de la bouche du ressuscité des paroles qui 
ne sinventent pas; Pierre et Thomas ont échangé avec lui 
deux dialogues d’un caractére sublime; Thomas a mis ses 
mains dans ses plaies, et n’a voulu croire qu’aprés avoir vu. 
Ils Vont aeccompagné jusque sur la montagne des Oliviers; de 
ses lévres ils ont recu l’ordre d’aller conquérir le monde, et sur 
cet ordre ils sont partis. Comprenez-vous maintenant, mes 
fréres, le sens et la valeur de Vapostolat? Certes s'il y eut 
jamais un siécle ot son réle parit nécessaire, c’est bien 
celui-ci. A quoi ont tendu, en effet, 4 quoi tendent encore 
tous les efforts de la critique contemporaine, si ce n’est a 
reléguer la figure du Christ dans la région des l¢égendes, a la 
placer au premier rang dans le cortége sublime des créations 
qu’enfanta le génie des peuples, A en faire la plus pure et la 
plus splendide des apparitions qui visitérent imagination des 
hommes, pourvu qu’en retour nous concédions que cette vie ne 
fut qu'une trame merveilleuse de paraboles sous lesquelles il 
faut renoncer a trouver le sol ferme et résistant de l’histoire, 
pourvu que les miracles du Christ ne soient plus que de 
brillants symboles, sa résurrection et son ascension que les 
mythes poétiques de sa victoire morale, pourvu que l’Evangile 
renonce a prendre place au rang des faits et & troubler avec 
son caractére surnaturel les lois immuables de la réalité? 
Comprenez-vous ce que vaut pour nous le témoignage de ces 
Galiléens qui, devant ces assertions spécieuses, se lévent et 
répondent: Ce Christ, nous Vavons vu, ces paroles divines, 
elles ont frappé nos oreilles, ce visage, nous l’avons contemplé 
dans le rayonnement du Thabor et sous la sueur de sang du 
jardin des Olives; ce mort, il est sorti du sépulcre, et il a 
marché devant nous, et ce que nos yeux ont vu, ce que nos 
oreilles ont entendu, ce que nos mains ont touché, voila ce 
que nous vous annongons. Mes fréres, il faut choisir entre 
la critique qui nous dit que l’Evangile est le plus sublime des 
réves, et l’apostolat qui nous dit qu'il est le plus vrai des faits. 
Telle est bien la question, et je n’en sais pas de plus actuelle, 
de plus saisissante: c’est l’existence méme du christianisme 
dont il s’agit ici. 


262 NOTE 7. 


III. 


‘La nécessité du témoignage apostolique nous apparait 
maintenant avec évidence. Faisons un pas de plus, et de- 
mandons-nous si ce témoignage est vraiment digne de foi. 
C’est 14, nous l’avons dit, le second point que nous avons a 
traiter. 

‘Je ne me placerai pas, pour le résoudre, sur le terrain de la 
science; ce n’est pas que je craigne le moins du monde de 
voir le débat s’y engager: je crois, au contraire, qu'une 
recherche scientifique sérieuse portant sur ce point est tout 
4 notre avantage, et je redoute beaucoup plus, en ces matiéres, 
le parti pris si répandu aujourd’hui de trancher ces questions 
d’une fagon sommaire et superficielle. Si je n’entre pas ici 
dans un débat scientifique, c’est parce que l’Eglise n’est pas et 
ne doit pas étre une école. Dvailleurs je suis certain que, 
lorsqwil s’agit d’apprécier la valeur générale d’un témoignage, 
la science n’est pas nécessaire et que le simple bon sens y suflit. 
Cela est si vrai que toutes les législations modernes l’ont re- 
connu. ‘Tandis que lorsqu’il s’agit d’appliquer la loi, elles 
exigent des juges la connaissance précise et spéciale des textes, 
lorsqu’il s’agit d’apprécier des faits, elles forment un jury 
composé d’hommes de toute classe et de toute culture qui 
laissent 1a leurs études, leur comptoir, leur ferme, leur in- 
dustrie, pour formuler un arrét d’ou dépendent Vhonneur, la 
liberté, la vie peut-étre d’un de leurs semblables. Plusieurs 
de ceux qui m’écoutent ont siégé sans doute comme jurés dans 
des causes importantes; d’autres y ont assisté comme spec- 
tateurs; tous y ont pris part de loin avee une curiosité 
passionnée. ih bien! voici devant nous un tribunal; a sa 
barre voici les apdtres. Ils portent témoignage en faveur de 
Jésus de Nazareth; ils disent de lui ce que vous savez tous, 
ils racontent cette histoire qui, lorsqu’elle a été crue, a trans- 
formé le monde. Ces témoins sont-ils dignes de foi? Pour 
nous en convaincre, voyons d’abord sls sont sincéres. Et 
comme la sincérité ne suffit pas ici, comme elle peut ne pas 


NOTE 7. 263 


empécher les égarements de l’esprit, nous verrons ensuite ce 
qu il faut penser de leur intelligence. | 

‘Sur leur sincérité, le doute est difficile, et je cherche vaine- 
ment ce qualléguerait ici un sceptique endurci. La simplicité 
de leur accent a quelque chose d’unique devant lequel tombe 
toute prévention; c’est évidemment sur leur témoignage 
quiont été écrits les évangiles. Connaissez-vous dans la 
langue des hommes des récits moins apprétés, plus abso- 
lument dénués de toute recherche, de toute prétention a 
Peffet? C’est le plus naif des livres tout en en étant le 
plus sublime. S7’il est de régle qu'un témoin est d’autant 
plus digne de foi qu’il est moins habile, moins capable d’une 
combinaison artificielle et d’un plan bien agencé, quelle con- 
fiance ne doivent pas inspirer ceux qui ont été les premiers 
biographes de Jésus de Nazareth? Si Von surprenait chez 
eux la moindre habileté calculée, la défiance s’éveillerait 
aussitot, mais il y a dans la candeur je ne sais quelle force 
invincible qui déconcerte la critique et qui triomphe des 
préventions les plus acharnées. On a écrit de nos jours dans 
Vintérét de la défense du christianisme plusieurs Vies de Jésus, 
rédigées 4 un point de vue rigoureusement historique, ou l’on 
s’est efforcé de faire disparaitre les contradictions apparentes 
des évangiles et de montrer l’authenticité de tous les faits et 
de tous les discours du Christ. J’admire ces travaux dont 
quelques-uns sont des ceuvres éminentes, mais, l’avouerai-je, 
Vimpression que produit un plaidoyer, si habile, si ingénieux, 
si convaincant qu'il soit, ne vaudra jamais, pour me persuader, 
celle que je ressens devant l’absolue ingénuité des évangiles ; 
ce sont eux qui défendent leurs avocats plus que leurs avocats 
ne les défendent; ce quils ont d’inachevé, d’incomplet, de 
défectueux méme, est ce qui me touche et me convainc le 
plus de la vérité de leur témoignage. A cette premiére 
considération déja si puissante vient s’ajouter un fait: c’est 
ce qu’on peut appeler Vhéroique franchise des apdtres. Y 
avez-vous jamais réfléchi? En racontant la vie de leur Maitre, 
les apdtres ont raconté leur propre vie, ils ont rédigé leur 
propre confession. Ici encore il suffit du simple bon sens 


264 NOTE 7. 


pour en apprécier la nature. Notre siécle a été celui des 
mémoires personnels et des autobiographies. Jamais le besoin 
de se raconter soi-méme n’a été plus répandu qu’aujourd’hui. 
Des personnages sans importance dont les noms ont eu la 
célébrité éphémére du boulevard, des hommes qui avaient tout 
intérét a se faire oublier, ont rédigé leurs vies. Plutdt que de 
consentir au silence, ils ont décrit jusqu’a leurs égarements et 
leurs chutes. Eh bien! on peut faire 4 ce propos une re- 
marque. L’homme confesse naturellement ce qu'il a fait de 
bon, il le confesse méme avec excés; parfois il consent a 
avouer ses fautes, mais parmi ses fautes il sait choisir; voyez 
avec quel art inconscient il raconte de préférence les en- 
trainements que la passion justifie, ou qu’elle poétise du moins 
si elle ne les absout pas. Mais il y a deux choses qu’on ne dit 
jamais 4 personne: ce sont les bévues ridicules de son intel- 
ligence, et ce sont les cdtés laches et honteux de sa vie.. Or, 
y avez-vous songé? Ces traits sont précisément ceux que les 
apdtres n’ont eu garde d’oublier en parlant d’eux-mémes. Ils 
avouent que pendant trois ans, placés a l’école de leur Maitre, 
ils ont constamment méconnu sa pensée, ils l’ont interprétée 
de la maniére la plus grossiére et la plus charnelle, ils ont 
répondu par V’intelligence la plus stupide a ses épanchements 
les plus élevés, ils ont jusqu’au bout caressé les réves les plus 
intéressés de leur ambition tout égoiste et mesquine. Ils 
avouent que, la veille de la mort de Jésus-Christ, ils se dis- 
putaient la premiére place dans son royaume; ils confessent 
qwils ont été étroits, envieux les uns des autres, pleins de 
préjugés et de fanatisme. Dans les récits les plus touchants 
des évangiles, qu'il s’agisse de la bénédiction des petits enfants, 
de la guérison de la fille de la Cananéenne, de Marie lavant 
les pieds de leur Maitre ou de V’agonie de Jésus en Geth- 
sémané, ils s’attribuent un réle qui est parfois odieux; ils 
sont sans pitié devant le cri d’une mére désespérée ; ils cal- 
culent le prix du parfum répandu sur les pieds de Jésus; ils 
dorment a V’heure ot leur Maitre répand sa sueur de sang. 
C’est sous ces traits qwils se présentent avec une naiveté sans 
égale; pas une réserve en leur faveur, pas un adoucissement, 


NOTE 7. 265 


pas un essai d’apologie. On sent que c’est ainsi que les faits 
se sont passés. II y a plus, ils se confessent d’une défaillance 
morale que nul homme n’a jamais avouée. Massillon disait 
que dans sa longue carriére de prétre jamais personne ne 
s était devant lui confessé d’avarice. Mes fréres, il n’est pas 
besoin d’étre évéque pour savoir que jamais personne ne s’est- 
confessé de lacheté. Sil y a quelque vieux soldat dans cette 
assemblée, il en tombera d’accord avec moi. Or les apotres 
ont cette franchise de dire qu ils ont tremblé a ’heure supréme, 
tremblé comme des enfants et des laches; ils avouent que 
lorsque leur Maitre, qui n’avait cessé de les aimer et de les 
bénir avec une tendresse toute divine, a été trahi par l’un 
des leurs et conduit devant ses juges, eux, ils se sont enfuis, 
quils Pont tous abandonné, et que celui d’entre eux qui avait 
juré de lui rester fidéle la renié trois fois devant l’inter- 
pellation d’une servante. Sans s'inquiéter du scandale qu’allait 
produire une telle histoire, ils la racontent avec détail et n’en 
omettent pas un mot, et lorsqu’ils vont annoncer dans le 
monde la croix de Jésus-Christ, et diriger sur elle les regards 
de ceux qu'elle doit sauver, ils osent dire qu’a Vheure ot cette 
croix fut dressée, ils l’ont lachement désertée, laissant a de 
faibles femmes Vhonneur d’assister leur Maitre agonisant, 
laissant & un brigand Vhonneur de proclamer le premier 
Péternelle royauté du Crucifié, comme ils ont laissé trois 
jours plus tard 4 une ancienne possédée Vhonneur de pro- 
clamer la premiére le triomphe du Christ ressuscité. Voila 
quel a été sur tous ces points leur témoignage, et j’ai le droit 
de dire que, si un tel aveu est vraiment héroique, ceux qui 
Vont fait méritent d’étre crus. 


IV. 


‘Mais on nous arréte, on nous dit: “ Leur sincérité est hors 
de doute, mais on peut se tromper en étant sincére; l’en- 
thousiasme est le propre des Ames naives, et l’honnéteté des 
apétres ne nous garantit pas quwils aient vu leur Maitre 
transfiguré, ressuscité...” 


266 NOTE 7. 


‘J’en conviens, et tout 4 lheure je vais vous répondre ; mais 
avouez du moins que, si tout ce que nous avons dit est fondé, 
il faut absolument renoncer a la théorie d’aprés laquelle les 
récits évangéliques ne se seraient formés que peu 4 peu dans 
Vimagination du peuple chrétien. Si les faits que nous avons 
rappelés ne sont pas vrais, rien n’est vrai. S7ils sont vrais, 
Vhypothése que je signale est 4 jamais détruite et le té- 
moignage sincére des apdtres nous conduit sur le terrain 
ferme, inébranlable de Vhistoire. Telle est ma premiére 
conclusion, et nul esprit sérieux ne pourra la mettre en doute. 
Cela dit, aborde l’objection que je viens de rappeler. 

‘Si des hommes qui ont vu de si prés Jésus, qui nous ont 
raconté sa vie avec un accent si naturel et si vrai, ont été 
victimes de leur imagination surexcitée, au point de préter 
sans cesse & leur Maitre des actes qu’il n’aurait jamais ac- 
complis, au point de ne plus méme le reconnaitre et de se 
laisser imposer a son sujet les inventions les plus fantastiques, 
cela ne peut sexpliquer que par une aberration étrange et 
périodique de leur intelligence. Nous avouons que histoire 
religieuse est pleine de récits d’hallucinations; sans aller bien 
loin, on en a vu fréquemment a notre époque, et puisqu’on a 
osé de nos jours rapprocher la Salette et Lourdes de Bethléem 
et du Calvaire, il faut dire, en passant, ce que nous pensons 
d’un si monstrueux paralléle. 

‘Les hallucinés parlent en hallucinés. Que ce soient des 
bergers, des enfants, des religieuses ou des moines, ils sont les 
échos plus ou moins naifs des réveries dont on les a bercés; 
ils croient voir un jour apparaitre la figure qui tant de fois 
frappa leur imagination, et ils lui attribuent des paroles dont 
leur mémoire est hantée, exactement comme les adeptes du 
spiritisme moderne font parler 4 Pascal, a Bossuet ou a 
Shakespeare un langage dont la platitude trahit assez l’ori- 
gine. Cela est si vrai que, de toutes ces légendes dont 
Vhistoire de la superstition contemporaine est pleine, il n’est 
pas resté une parole, je dis une seule, digne d’étre conservée, 
pas un mot qui rappelle de loin la sublime simplicité de nos 
Evangiles. L’incohérence est le caractére propre de Vhallu- 


NOTE 7. 267 


cination. Or, si les apdtres ont été des hallucinés, par quel 
prodige ont-ils pu nous retracer la figure de Jésus-Christ, 
telle que l’Evangile nous I’a conservée? Quelque opinion 
que Von ait sur le cdté surnaturel de lEvangile, il est un 
point sur lequel tout le monde est d’accord, c’est que jamais 
figure n’a réalisé mieux que celle du Christ Vidée de la per- 
fection morale. Dans cette peinture sublime, on voit sé 
fondre en un harmonieux ensemble toutes les lignes qui 
ailleurs nous apparaissent dispersées et brisées; les vertus 
qui semblent opposées se réunissent ici; les traits qui chez 
les autres hommes s’excluent et se limitent se rencontrent 
pour former un tout achevé. le calme auguste et Vactivité 
infatigable, la grandeur et Vhumilité, Vautorité souveraine et 
Vobéissance, la majesté et la condescendance, la sainteté la 
plus absolue et l’absence de tout rigorisme, la spiritualite 
la plus compléte et les plus tendres sympathies humaines, 
Vhorreur du mal et la compassion infinie pour ceux qui le 
commettent, voila ce qui nous apparait partout dans la vie de 
Jésus. Et dans ce tableau, pas un trait faux, dans cette 
harmonie pas une note dissonante. Songez a Veffet que 
produirait sur nous un seul penchant mauvais, une seule 
faiblesse, une seule imperfection, je dis moins, un seul trait 
vulgaire attribué & Jésus. On n’en a pas découvert encore, 
on n’en découvrira jamais. Et remarquez que cette attitude 
du Christ est toujours la méme, soit qu’il se meuve dans la 
vie que nous appelons naturelle, soit qu'il accomplisse des 
actes surnaturels. C’est & propos de ses miracles qu’il pro- 
nonce beaucoup de ses paroles les plus authentiques, dont 
nous sentons bien qu’elles n’ont pu étre inventées, et qu il 
déploie cette dignité souveraine et sans faste qui n’appartient 
qua lui. Et Von voudrait nous faire croire que cette sainte 
figure a été tracée par des esprits faibles, par de pauvres 
égarés, dont imagination exaltée en aurait entrevu dans les 
incohérences de la fiévre les traits merveilleux! Plutdt que 
de convenir quils ont vu le Christ tel qu’ils le dépeignent, 
on veut nous faire admettre qwils ont inventé, et que de ce 
sombre milieu de fanatisme, de préjugés opinidtres, de haines 


268 ING DL ea: 


nationales, de formalisme et d’hypocrisie o& se mouvait alors 
Israél, est sorti, par je ne sais quelle évolution bizarre, l’idéal 
méme de la perfection morale, cet étre dont le plus illustre 
incrédule de notre temps a pu dire que désormais la conscience 
humaine ne distinguerait plus entre Dieu et lui! Etrange 
supposition, bien digne d’une époque qui prétend expliquer 
le monde par la rencontre fortuite des atomes tourbillonnant 
dans l’espace, et faire sortir du mouvement de cette poussiére 
inanimée la loi, l’ordre, la vie, l’intelligence, la conscience et 
Ja moralité. Eh bien! c’est auenom de ma raison, que moi, 
croyant, je m’insurge contre cette révoltante hypothése, plus 
miraculeuse mille fois que les miracles dont on ne veut pas, 
c’est au nom de ma raison que j’affirme que l’égarement de 
quelques Galiléens n’a pas pu enfanter Vharmonie morale, 
que la folie n’a pas pu créer la raison la plus haute, que 
Vhallucination n’a pas inventé Jésus de Nazareth ! ’—Bersier’s 
Sermons, t. Vi. pp. 37-57. 


Note 7 A, p. 95. 


Comparatively few persons are competent to discuss, or 
even to consider, the intricate questions which have been 
raised by critics of the present day respecting the structure 
of the early books of the Bible; and if the profitable study of 
these books by men of average capacity and ordinary oppor- 
tunities depended on their being able to satisfy themselves 
entirely upon such points, the inspired volume would cease 
to have much practical value for them. It is to be feared, 
indeed, that to some minds this has been the effect of our 
modern discussions, and that in respect to the early chapters 
of Genesis, for instance, a mist of antiquarian and historical 
criticism has served unduly to distract and absorb the atten- 
tion. But happily there is another point of view from which 
those chapters may be and ought to be considered, and this is 
independent of any such perplexities. The Book of Genesis 
is in the form ofa history. On the face of it, that book offers 
us an account of the actual position of man upon the earth, 
and of that general course of affairs which led to the selection 


NOTE 7 A. 269 


by God of one man and one family to be the founders of a 
spiritual organization, or Church, which should ultimately re- 
act upon the natural order of human society, and in which, 
through its great Head, all nations of the earth should be 
blessed. In other words, it offers to fulfil that which is the 
essential function of all true history—that is, to put men and 
things in their right places, to exhibit their true relations, and 
to give us therefore a sound and just view of life. For this 
purpose, it may for the moment be treated as a matter of 
subordinate importance from what particular sources the 
narrative may have been immediately derived. The Book of — 
Genesis, if only as a venerable record of antiquity, is priceless ; 
but as revealing to us likewise facts and realities in the con- 
stitution of the world which affect our present condition, it 
has a value of another kind. 

We here refer more particularly to the opening chapters. 
None have occasioned more perplexity in details to many eager 
disputants. Yet if they are interpreted by a mind able to 
seize principles and open to the comprehension of a large 
sphere of facts, those early records, besides the elementary 
revelation which they communicate on the surface, are seen to 
be pregnant likewise with profound instruction for thinking 
men. On this point it is hardly necessary to appeal to argu- 
ment, for the observation is confirmed by a very striking 
experience. It would seem to many, perhaps, a paradox to 
say that the dominant and germinal idea of modern practical 
science was suggested by the first chapter of Genesis, and re- 
ceived its earliest definite expression in language quoted from 
it. Yet this is the simple fact. That chapter has, in this 
respect, experienced a most singular fate. No portion, per- 
haps, of the Bible is more utterly abandoned by certain 
votaries of science in the present day; while, on the contrary, 
none was more dear to the great father of the experimental 
philosophy. The language of Lord Bacon is saturated, so to 
speak, with thoughts derived from this narrative. He discerns 
in it types of the whole order of the divine operations, whether 
in nature or in grace—types, consequently, of the work and 


270 NOTE 7 A. 


the nature of that being who was made in the divine image. 
Some of his references may be ascribed to his exuberant fancy ; 
but no thoughtful mind will thus dismiss that noble imagery 
with which he concludes the introduction to the Jnstauratio 
Magna, and in which he invokes the divine blessing upon 
his labours. It is a prayer in which theology, philosophy, 
and experience combine in one luminous and solemn medita- 
tion. 


‘Thou therefore, O Father,’ he exclaims, ‘who gavest the 
visible light as the first-born of Thy creatures, and didst pour into 
man the intellectual light, as the top and consummation of Thy 
workmanship, be pleased to protect and govern this work, which, 
coming from Thy goodness, returneth to Thy glory. Thou, after 
Thou hadst reviewed the works which Thy hand had made, 
beheldest that everything was very good, and didst rest with com- 
placency in them. But man reflecting on the works which he had 
made, saw that all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and could by 
no means acquiesce inthem. Wherefore, if we labour in Thy works 
with the sweat of our brows, Thou wilt make us partakers of Thy 
vision and Thy sabbath. We humbly beg that this mind may be 
stedfastly in us, and that Thou by our hands and also by the hands 
of others on whom Thou shalt bestow the same spirit, wilt please to 
convey a largesse of new alms to the family of mankind.’ 


This meditative summary, as it were, of the first three 
chapters of Genesis would alone be sufficiently instructive ; 
but it is not even here that the full depth of Bacon’s medita- 
tion on such passages is to be discerned. That which has 
been referred to above as the dominant idea of his philosophy 
is still more conspicuously associated with such reflections. 
As the title of his great work the Novum Organum, stand the 
words ‘ Aphorismi de interpretatione naturae et regno hominis ’— 
‘ Aphorisms concerning the interpretation of nature and the 
dominion of man.’ That is, Bacon discerned a revelation of 
the true function of man upon the earth in the emphatic 
commission given him to ‘replenish the earth and subdue it, 
and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl 
of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon 


NOTE 7 A. 271 


the earth. Those words were apprehended by Bacon not 
as a mere description of man’s dignity, but as a compre- 
hensive designation of his true position, and as marking out 
the main work which on earth it was at once his destiny 
and his duty to fulfil, He proceeds in the first aphorism 
to indicate the character and limits of this dominion in 
words which are the best description of all right dominion, 
of whatever kind. ‘Man,’ he says, ‘is the minister and 
interpreter of nature.’ It need hardly e observed how deeply 
those words have penetrated the thought of the modern 
world, or how intimately they are intertwined with the 
whole spirit of the Baconian philosophy. They are inces- 
santly repeated as the very burden of Bacon’s teaching; and 
we see them year by year more amply fulfilled. But their 
full significance is to be appreciated only by associating them 
with the sacred imagery which, as we have seen, was so con- 
stantly present to the philosopher’s mind, and by regarding 
them as a commentary upon the scriptural revelation. From 
that point of view, what a light do they not throw upon the 
condition and the history of mankind! Nature, with all its 
marvellous endowments, is depicted to us, before the creation 
of man, as a kingdom without a king, an estate without an 
owner or minister to develope it, a beautiful vision without 
a painter or an interpreter. Forces of the utmost subtlety or 
the most stupendous power, infinite possibilities of combination 
and variation of elements, harmonies of form and colour need- 
ing a reasonable hand and eye to detect and depict them, lay 
hid in that vast and complex creation upon which God looked 
when he declared that it was very good. But a mirror was 
needed in which the whole mystery and marvel should be 
reflected, and in which, if the expression may be adapted from 
the sacred writer, God Himself should behold the full beauty 
of His own work. When the human eye and the human 
reason were created, a new universe was created with them, 
the universe of science, of art, and of all the higher develop- 
ments of the animal instincts. Perhaps from this point of 
view we may be permitted to discern an adumbration of a 


272 NOTE 7 A. 


ereat truth in the statement that ‘out of the ground the 
Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of 
the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would 
call them ; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, 
that was the name thereof.’ To give names to things is to 
classify them, to observe their resemblances, to abstract and 
generalise, to exert the reason and the imagination ; and what 
else, in substance, is the work of science at the present day 
but that of giving names to every creature? Viewing man 
as called into existence by the Creator for the further display 
of the marvels of creation, we may regard God as at this 
moment bringing all the varied elements of nature before us 
to see what we will call them, to behold how very good are 
those reasonable and moral faculties which He designed to be 
the mirror of His created works. 

Thus under this simple language, but, though simple, far | 
more accurate than the definitions of any philosopher however 
distinguished, did the great founder of modern scientific pro- 
egress discern a revelation of the cardinal facts of man’s position 
on the earth. Not, of course, that this is a revelation of his 
ultimate destiny. ‘That is a question which is answered else- 
where, and which is entirely independent of the particular 
work we have to perform in this sphere of existence. We all 
recognise in the case of individuals that they may be the heirs 
of the highest spiritual blessings and honours, though ap- 
pointed in this life to the most humble occupations. There 
can, indeed, in the nature of the case, be nothing in the 
slightest degree unworthy of the loftiest minds in accepting 
the function just described—that of co-operating with the 
Creator Himself in the full exhibition of His creative power. 
But it is doubtless true that the soul of man has capacities 
which can never be satisfied by even the highest display of the 
glories of the visible creation, and that it is only in the spi- 
ritual sphere that our spirits will find their full rest, and their 
complete career. Those only, however, can expect to be thus 
made rulers over many things who have faithfully ruled over 
the comparatively few things committed to them in this life. 


NOTE 7 A. 273 


Yet men have struggled with a strange persistency against 
this unavoidable task ; and once more in the narrative of the 
sacred historian did Bacon discern the nature of this perversity. 
Placed in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it, man 
could not be content with this simple duty, but entangled 
himself in speculations respecting what was abstractedly good 
and evil, and yielded to the first temptation which suggested 
to him a shorter and a pleasanter path to the full enjoyment of 
his life. Subsequently, through ages of weary debate and 
speculation men sought continually to attain the swmmum 
6onum—their ultimate aim and perfection—by all manner of 
mental, moral, and physical disciplines ; each school of philoso- 
phers, each sect of theologians, each order of Christian or of 
heathen monks, deeming that they had found some new tree 
of the knowledge of good and evil which would introduce them 
to the fruit of the tree of life. But all these, from whatever 
quarter they approached, encountered a mysterious sword 
which kept the way of the tree of life, and which sent them 
back baffled into their wilderness, At length, in an age of 
moral and mental regeneration, under the light of a revived 
and reformed religious intelligence, a vast and patient genius 
was arrested by the words of the ancient record, and recog- 
nised in them that still small voice which might reveal, to 
quote his own image, ‘ the clue to the labyrinth.’ He saw the 
key of all philosophy and of all life in the statement that the 
Lord God had sent man forth from the garden of Eden ‘to till 
the ground from whence he was taken.’ While the mass of 
men shrank in fear, as some are still apt to shrink, from the 
blaze of the new knowledge which was bursting on them, he 
pointed to this chapter in order to remind them that it was not 
mere knowledge, not the natural knowledge of the world in 
which we live which led to man’s fall, but a presumptuous 
attempt to intrude into the hidden mysteries of moral and 
spiritual truth, and attempts to seek elsewhere than in the 
revealed will of God for the ultimate principles of good and 
evil. From that moment, in proportion as men have accepted 
the task of labouring, according: to Bacon’s favourite language, 
T 


274: NOTE 7 A. 


‘to produce fruit,’ in proportion as they have humbly endea- 
voured to assert their dominion over nature—a dominion only 
to be asserted by obedience—have they made advances in all 
departments of life greater than were ever achieved before. 
In greater or less degree, history has steadily borne witness to 
the truth of this description of human nature. In proportion 
as nations, instead of desolating and subduing, have accepted 
the function of replenishing and subduing, the earth have they 
been great, prosperous, and happy. It is an humble method, 
one needing in fact moral qualities of the highest kind—quali- 
ties which Christianity alone brought to sufficient perfection 
for the purpose in view. But it is the only method ; and no 
schemes of spiritual or moral purification have ever been 
effectual which have not recognised this primary duty of 
labour, and of labour bestowed in developing the resources of 
this earth. Even the liberal professions are handmaids to the 
great creative function here discharged by mankind, and are 
never in a healthy condition unless recognising this duty—a 
consideration which, if duly weighed, would perhaps reconcile 
us to many a labour of which we are at times inclined to com- 
plain that it seems of such purely material and temporal 
interest. , 

But it is not only for the purposes of the apologist, nor 
merely as throwing an interesting light upon some great 
questions, that an endeavour has thus been made to illustrate 
the bearing of some of those statements in the early chapters 
of Genesis which have provoked modern criticism ; it is rather 
that we may derive encouragement towards a more simple 
and patient habit of reading and reflecting on the Scriptures. 
These instances may serve to illustrate what fruitful truths 
may be suggested to us, not only by the minute study which 
is the province of the professed theologian, but also by that 
quiet meditation on the English text which is practicable for 
every one, and which, if we mistake not, has been the chief 
source of English wisdom. ‘To know wisdom and instruction, 
to receive the words of understanding, to receive the instruc- 
tion of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity,’ to obtain those 


NOTE 8. 275 


large and just views of life which to every one are of primary 
necessity—for these ends the most unlearned need only betake 
himself assiduously to those Scriptures which are able to make 
him wise unto salvation—alike in this world and in the next.— 
From a paper by the Author in the Christian Observer, March 


1877, 


NOTE 8, p. 109. 


‘There are, moreover, certain signs which never fail to 
reveal, even involuntarily, the real condition of an individual 
or of a nation, though no eye may see it: thus the whole of 
the internal weakness and perversity of the hagiocracy al- 
ready betrays itself in the one small but significant circum- 
stance of its treatment of the name of God. Desirous to 
maintain the infinite sanctity of the venerable name Jahveh, 
and fearful of desecrating it, it ordained that it should never 
be pronounced at all, and so allowed this glorious ancient 
name to lie in absolute obscurity behind a perpetual veil. 
No doubt this practice was only introduced very gradually 
at first; and unless the name had always been treated with 
a reverence quite peculiar to itself ever since the formation 
of the community, no such custom of abstaining out of 
reverence from pronouncing it at all could ever have arisen. 
But it was only the growing scrupulousness of later days 
which could conclude from the third injunction of the Deca- 
logue that for fear of running the risk of misusing the name 
when taking an oath, or on any other occasion, and thereby 
exciting the wrath as it were of an avenging Lord, it would 
be better never to utter it at all. It now became common 
to use instead the general name Hlohim, i.e. God; until at 
last the custom was established of reading the next highest 
name of Adonai, which corresponded to it most nearly, even 
in those passages of Scripture where it was found written, 
or where, as in the books of history, it had to be written 
then: and, in the same way, men afterwards came to 
prefer saying Heaven instead of God, in ordinary speech. 

Tag 


276 NOTE 8. 


The substitution of Adonai was already customary towards 
the end of the Persian era, as we see from many indications ; 
and from that time it maintained itself amongst the Judeans 
for all succeeding ages, through a constant succession of 
departures from the free and straightforward course. The 
Samaritans alone never gave in to the practice. The name 
of the true God was now suspended at an infinite distance, 
high above all the present scene of existence; and the further 
notion was soon conceived that it would only be revealed 
again in the whole of its wondrous significance and power 
in the fulness of things, at the end of all time. In the same 
way, the heathen had their mysterious names of deities, 
and the Chinese emperor’s original name is suspended over 
all his subjects, inviolable and unapproachable during his 
reign, while he is designated by some other appellation. 
But this God of the ancient community, though men feared 
his name above all things, and desired utterly to surrender 
themselves to him in deepest awe, was in reality ever retiring 
further and further from them, into a mysterious distance ; 
and while they were restrained by their scruples from looking 
into his face or calling upon him by his true name, they 
were really losing him more and more, so undesigned was 
this most significant of all the signs of Israel’s last great era! 
As the name of the people changes with each of the three 
great stages of its history, and each name may serve as a 
brief symbol of the whole essence of the special era to which 
it belongs, so it is to a still greater extent with the name of 
God ; and nothing is more significant than that the simple but 
sublime Jahveh should be succeeded by the splendid Jahveh 
of Hosts, together with the very free use of Jahveh, and this, 
again, finally by a blank. But this practice of avoiding the 
highest conceivable name of the true religion, when it had 
acquired the force of law, gradually fostered the most artificial 
ways of thinking and speaking of God, as though it were 
impossible, at least for human language, to find any name 
fully worthy of being used as an adequate designation of the 
Unspeakable. Nor was this all, it also produced many kinds 


NOTE 9. 277 


of superstition, especially the prevalent belief that it was 
possible to work miracles by the bold utterance of the 
mysterious heavenly name, the probable sound of which it 
would still be easy to imitate. These tendencies, no doubt, 
only reached their further development in the following 
centuries, but their ultimate source lies hidden here,’— 
Ewald, History of Israel, vol. v. pp. 198, 199, translated 
by J. Estlin Carpenter, M.A., 1874. 


NOTE 9, p. 111. 


Dr. Lightfoot says, in a Note to his Commentary on the 
Hpistle to the Galatians, pp. 156, 157, second edition :— 


‘From the investigation just concluded it appears that the 
term “Faith” can scarcely be said to occur at all in the 
Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament. It is indeed a 
characteristic token of the difference between the two cove- 
nants, that under the Law the “/ear of the Lord” holds very 
much the same place as “faith in God,” “faith in Christ,” 
under the Gospel. Awe is the prominent idea in the earlier 
dispensation, ¢rwst in the later. At the same time, though 
the word itself is not found in the Old Testament, the idea 
is not absent; for indeed a trust in the Infinite and Unseen, 
subordinating thereto all interests that are finite and transi- 
tory, is the very essence of the higher spiritual life. 

In Abraham, the father of the chosen race, this attitude of 
trustfulness was most marked. By faith he left home and 
kindred, and settled in a strange land; by faith he acted 
upon God’s promise of a race and an inheritance, though it 
seemed at variance with all human experience; by faith he 
offered up his only son, in whom alone that promise could be 
fulfilled. Thus this one word “faith” sums up the lesson of 
his whole life. And when, during the long silence of prophecy 
which separated the close of the Jewish from the birth of the 
Christian Scriptures, the Hebrews were led to reflect and 


278 ; NOTE 10. 


comment on the records of their race, this feature of their 
great forefather’s character did not escape notice. The two 
languages, which having supplanted the Hebrew had now 
become the vehicles of theological teaching, both supplied 
words to express their meaning. In the Greek wioris, in the 
Aramaic 839%, the hitherto missing term was first found.’ 


NOTE 10, p. 137. 


This subject is forcibly and beautifully illustrated in the 
following Extract from a Sermon in M. Bersier’s sixth volume, 
on Les Vérités Morales et les Vérités Révélées, pp. 300-311 :— 

‘Nous arrivons ainsi a la seconde partie de mon texte. 
Jésus-Christ, qui a, ¢’est notre conclusion premiére, le droit 
d’étre cru comme prédicateur de la loi morale, réclame la 
méme foi comme révélateur religieux. C’est ce point que 
_ nous allons maintenant examiner. 

‘Jésus n’est pas seulement un maitre de morale, il ne parle 
pas seulement des choses terrestres ; 11 se donne comme étant 
venu d’en haut. “ Personne,” dit-il, “n’est monté au ciel que 
celui qui est descendu du ciel, savoir le Fils de Vhomme.” 
I] parle avee autorité de choses qui dépassent absolument nos 
horizons humains. I] nous révéle Dieu et parle de lui comme 
un Fils parle de son Pére, il nous enseigne quel est le gou- 
vernement de Dieu, quelle est sa providence envers ses 
créatures, quels sont les desseins de sa miséricorde pour le 
salut de l’humanité, il annonce d’avance sa mort et enseigne 
explicitement qu'il s’offrira pour le salut du monde. Dans 
Ventretien méme d’ou j’ai tiré les paroles que nous méditons, 
il expose en quelques mots admirables tout le plan de la 
rédemption. ‘‘ Dieu a tellement aimé le monde qu’il a donné 
son Fils unique, afin que quiconque croit en lui ne périsse 
point, mais quil ait la vie éternelle.” Il sait que cette mort 
doit attirer tous les hommes a lui; il annonce également sa 
résurrection et son triomphe. I] parle de sa personne comme 
étant Ja manifestation vivante de Dieu; il se propose aux 


‘ NOTE 10. 279 


ames comme Celui en qui il faut croire, qu'il faut aimer par- 
dessus toutes choses, en qui le monde devra trouver sa vie; il 
annonce le jugement 4 venir et dit comment ce jugement 
se fera. 

‘En face de ces affirmations, notre situation est tout autre 
qu’en face de son enseignement moral, Tant qu il s’agissait 
_de celui-ci, nous pouvions le juger, car nous trouvions dans 
notre propre conscience un sur critére pour en apprécier la 
vérité. Chaque précepte du sermon sur la montagne, chaque 
parabole éveillait en nous un écho. Ce témoignage intérieur 
suffisait pour nous convaincre de la vérité des paroles du 
Christ, et il est 4 remarquer que plus notre conscience était 
droite, et notre cceur ouvert aux affections pures, plus cette 
conviction s’affermissait ey nous. 

‘Ici, au contraire, tout change. Nous entendons des déclara- 
tions souveraines qu'il nous est impossible de contréler. Rien 
en nous a premiére vue n’y peut rendre témoignage. Rien ne 
nous prouve absolument qu’elles soient vraies. Nous sommes 
réduits 4 croire-le Christ sur parole. Jusque-la nous avions 
marché en le suivant sur le terrain ferme de l’expérience, ici 
nous nous lancons aprés lui sur une mer profonde aux horizons 
sans fin. Nous faisons acte de foi. Deux questions se posent 
ici devant nous: avons-nous le droit de faire cet acte de foi? 
Jésus-Christ doit-il étre cru ? 

‘A la premiére de ces questions la réponse est aisée. Sup- 
posons que nous écartions d’avance et systématiquement la foi 
comme moyen d’accés a la vérité religieuse, aucune autre voie 
ne nous restera pour y parvenir. Sur toutes les questions re- 
latives a notre origine et 4 notre destinée, sur la douleur, sur 
le mal, sur le pardon, sur nos relations avec Dieu, sur la vie 
future, la science n’a rien 4 nous apprendre. Jamais peut-étre 
elle ne I’a confessé plus franchement qu’aujourd’hui. I] me 
serait facile de citer ici ses aveux si nombreux et si péremptoires. 
Je ne discute pas l’attitude qu’elle prend vis-a-vis de tous ces 
problémes; pour tout dire, je crois sa réserve exagérée, il me 
semble qu’elle pourrait, 4 Taide de ses simples ressources 
naturelles, pénétrer dans ces questions plus avant qu’elle ne le 


280 NOTE 10. 


fait. Je constate’ simplement ce fait que la science pure est 
radicalement incapable de calmer les remords de la conscience, 
de donner au cceur un amour digne de lui, de consoler nos 
douleurs, de nous apporter quelque certitude sur notre destinée 
éternelle. Une telle impitiissance, aussi clairement constatée 
dans le siécle méme ow la science a dailleurs remporté ses 
plus éclatants triomphes, est un phénoméne qui doit frapper 
tout esprit droit. 

‘Cela étant reconnu, que faire? MRenoncer a soulever le 
voile de notre destinée, nous enfermer dans la vie présente, 
comme les épicuriens pour jouir, comme les stoiciens pour 
obéir A la loi du devoir, sans rien savoir d’au dela, sans oser 
rien affirmer, ni rien espérer sur Dieu, sur le grand inconnu 
qui nous attend peut-étre? On Tlessaie, on la tenté mille 
fois, on n’y parvient jamais. L’humanité est religieuse par 
essence. Le positivisme-pourra plaire 4 une ou deux généra- 
tions qui passent ; il ne sera jamais la doctrine de Vhumanité. 

‘C’est ici que Jésus-Christ nous apparait avec lautorité qui 
n’appartient qu’a lui. Il se donne comme un révélateur venu 
de la part de Dieu, et sur tous les points obscurs de notre 
destinée, i] répand la lumiére ; il ne cherche pas, il ne raisonne 
pas, il ne discute pas, il affirme, et quand les Juifs lui 
reprochent de se rendre témoignage a soi-méme, c’est-a-dire, 
en langage moderne, d’affirmer sans preuves, il répond par 
cette parole: ‘‘Mon témoignage est véritable, car je sais 
d’ol je suis venu, et je sais ot je vais.” (Jean viii. 14.) 

‘ Et voici le fait qui s’est produit : quelques hommes ont cru 
a cette affirmation de Jésus, puis d’autres y ont cru sur leur 
témoignage, et cette croyance est devenue aujourd’hui celle 
de la partie la plus éclairée et la meilleure de l’humanité. 
Nous-mémes nous sommes chrétiens; cela veut dire que ce 
que nous savons de certain sur Dieu, sur la providence, sur le 
pardon, sur la vie éternelle, nous le tenons de Jésus-Christ. 
Nous avons cru en Jésus-Christ “ parlant des choses célestes,” 
en Jésus-Christ révélateur de la vérité religieuse. Avons- 
nous eu raison de le faire? Jésus-Christ est-il un témoin 
digne de foi? 


NOTE 10. 281 


‘Je remarque, en premier lieu; que l’accent méme avec 
lequel ses affirmations se produisent a quelque chose qui est 
de nature 4 nous faire réfléchir. Personne n’a jamais parlé 
avec une autorité égale 4 la sienne. Personne n’a jamais dit 
comme lui: “Je suis d’en haut, et vous étes d’en bas; je sais 
d’ou je suis venu et ou je vais; je suis le chemin, la vérité, la 
vie; je suis la lumiére du monde; celui qui m’a vu a vu 
le Pére.” On ne se défait pas de telles affirmations, on n’a 
pas le droit d’en atténuer la portée. Llles trahissent ou un 
prodigieux égarement ou une inspiration véritable. Entre 
ces deux explications il faut choisir. Il n’y en a pas une 
troisiéme, et il semble que la critique antichrétienne le 
reconnaisse clairement aujourd’hui. Elle ne craint pas de 
dire que Jésus-Christ est le plus sublime des hallucinés. 

‘Ce n’est pas nous qui nous plaindrons de la netteté de ces 
déclarations, si douloureuses qu’elles soient 4 notre cceur. 
Nous avons tout & gagner & voir disparaitre ici toute 
équivoque. 

‘Nous croyons, nous, aux affirmations de Jésus-Christ. 
Pour me servir des paroles de mon texte, nous croyons en 
lui quand il nous parle des choses célestes, parce qu'il nous a 
toujours dit vrai quand il nous a parlé des choses terrestres. 
Ceci est une présomption, rien de plus, je le sais, mais cette 
présomption nous suffit. Voici un Etre dont on nous dit 
qu il a entrainé l’humanité dans la plus fantastique des illu- 
sions, et cet Etre, dans toutes ses déclarations portant sur des 
sujets que nous pouvons contrdler, a dit vrai, absolument 
vrai; il n’a partagé aucun des préjugés, aucune des erreurs 
morales de son temps ni de son peuple; il a dépeint V’hu- 
manité telle qu’elle est, il a donné a la justice, au devoir, a la 
miséricorde, leur formule éternelle; sur tous ces points son 
enseignement n’a pu étre ni réfuté, ni dépassé. En l’écou- 
tant, non seulement nous sentons qu'il dit vrai, mais nous 
sentons que la vérité quil a formulée nous domine, qu’elle se 
dresse devant nous comme un idéal qui nous oblige, nous 
attire et nous condamne 4 la fois. A travers les siécles la 
puissance de cette parole est telle qu’elle exerce sur des 


282 NOTE 10. - 


millions d’hommes, et sur les meilleurs, un irrésistible 
ascendant. | 

‘Cette seule considération suffirait 4 prouver que nous ne 
croyons pas 4 la légére lorsque nous acceptons ce que Jésus- 
Christ nous dit du monde invisible qui nous dépasse. 
Songez-y bien. Toute société humaine repose sur la confi- 
ance mutuelle. Le nombre de vérités que nous acceptons sur 
le témoignage d’autrui est Immense; si nous devions tout 
controler, nous ferions 4 peine un pas en avant et le travail 
de Vhumanité devrait recommencer avec chaque individu. 
Or, quand notre confiance a-t-elle été mieux placée que 
lorsque nous avons cru 4 Celui dont la parole a été l’incarna- 
tion méme de la vérité morale? Si nous ne le croyons pas, 
qui croirons-nous ? 

‘Mais il y a plus, et nous touchons ici au vrai neeud de la 
question. $i nous croyons aux vérités religieuses révélées 
par Jésus-Christ, ce n’est pas seulement parce que, nous 
ayant dit vrai dans toutes les choses morales, il mérite notre 
confiance, ce n’est pas seulement parce qu'il est 4 nos yeux le 
Saint et le Juste, c’est encore et surtout parce que ces vérités 
religieuses sont le complément et le couronnement nécessaire 
des vérités morales auxquelles notre conscience nous oblige de 
croire, tellement qu’acceptant les unes, nous sommes conduits 
par une logique invincible a accepter les autres. I] n’est pas 
une vérité morale de l’Evangile qui ne se prolonge et ne 
s’épanouisse en une vérité religieuse. Voila (pour le dire en 
passant) la raison qui ne nous permettra jamais d’accepter un 
moment la théorie de la morale indépendante, car aux yeux de 
tout chrétien la morale et la doctrine sont étroitement et in- 
dissolublement unies. Qu’est-ce que la doctrine en effet, si 
ce n’est l’affirmation des relations qui doivent exister entre 
Dieu et nous, et qu’est-ce que la morale, si ce n’est la consé- 
quence pratique de ces relations? Si tout a l’heure j’ai di 
distinguer entre Jésus-Christ révélateur de la loi morale et 
Jésus-Christ révélateur de la vérité religieuse, vous avez tous 
senti instinct que ce n’était 14 qu’une distinction temporaire, 
qui ne correspondait a rien de réel, et que la personnalité de 
Jésus-Christ est absolument une et indivisible. 


NOTE 10. 283 


‘Prenez, en effet, les traits principaux de l’enseignement 
moral de Jésus-Christ. Il recommande 4 ses disciples la 
paix intérieure, le calme et cette douceur victorieuse qui 
n’ont rien de commun, ni avec la résignation fataliste du 
bouddhiste, ni avec la fermeté guindée du stoicien. Mais 
comment cette disposition intérieure est-elle possible sans la 
foi au Dieu juste, au Dieu qui sait tout, qui voit tout et 
sans la permission duquel rien n’arrive? II affirme que, 
sous le désordre apparent des choses, il y a un ordre pro- 
fond, que pas un iota de la loi morale ne peut étre anéanti, 
que homme moissonnera ce qu'il a semé. Mais ces affirma- 
tions regoivent chaque jour dans la réalité de histoire le 
démenti le plus insolent, elles sont misérablement dérisoires 
Sl nous ne croyons pas au Dieu qui sanctionne la loi qu'il a 
faite et qui jugera le monde avec justice. I] annonce aux 
ames les plus souillées un relévement possible, une restaura- 
tion compléte, un avenir de joie et de pureté. Mais comment 
ce fait pourra-t-il se réaliser sans que les droits de la justice 
divine aient été pleinement reconnus, sans qu'une expiation 
ait été acceptée et subie, sans que la rédemption ait été 
accomplie? Il annonce le triomphe du royaume de Dieu 
dans la justice et la vérité, non pas seulement comme un 
idéal auquel VPhumanité arrivera peut-étre dans vingt ou 
cinquante siécles, mais comme une réalité dont chaque con- 
science sera le témoin.. Mais cela ne suppose-t-il pas la vie 
future et la réparation de toutes les iniquités Wici-bas? Il 
enseigne 4 voir dans la douleur une épreuve sanctifiante, a 
tressaillir de joie au milieu des larmes. Mais cela aura-t-il 
un sens si l’amour de Dieu n’est pas le refuge de nos cceurs 
décus et brisés par le monde? J’ai donc Je droit de dire que 
le Christ révélateur de la loi morale conduit au Christ ré- 
dempteur et sauveur, que le sermon sur la montagne appelle 
et fait pressentir la croix du Calvaire, que tout se tient dans 
VEvangile et que homme ne peut pas séparer ce que Dieu a 
uni. 

‘Mes fréres, vous avez souvent répété avec sincérité, mais 
avec angoisse, la priére des disciples: “Seigneur, augmente 


284 NOTE 11. 


notre foi!” Vous nous avez souvent demandé comment cette 
foi peut étre fortifiée. Un génie égaré qui fut jusqu’a la fin 
un déiste sincére a écrit cette parole profonde: “Si tu veux 
croire en Dieu, vis de telle maniére que tu aies toujours 
besoin que Dieu existe.” Cette parole de Rousseau n’était 
que le commentaire de cette déclaration du Maitre des 
maitres: “Si quelqu’un veut faire la volonté de Dieu, il 
connaitra que ma doctrine est de Dieu.” Croyez-vous au 
Christ révélateur de la loi morale? Croyez-vous 4 la néces- 
sité inflexible du devoir, croyez-vous a la sainteté intérieure, 
croyez-vous au droit éternel pour tous, croyez-vous 4 la 
réparation nécessaire de toutes les injustices, 4 la consolation 
de toutes les douleurs, croyez-vous enfin au régne de Dieu? 
Il faut choisir entre cela et les doctrines fatalistes qui, de 
tous les cdtés, étendent sur le monde leurs ombres épaisses. 
Si Jésus-Christ est votre Maitre, si vous savez qu'il vous dit 
vrai quand il vous parle des ‘‘ choses terrestres,” vous l’écoute- 
rez et vous croirez en lui quand il vous annoncera “les céles- 
tes.” Aprés Vavoir suivi sur la montagne des béatitudes ot il 
a donné au monde la charte du royaume des cieux, vous le 
suivrez sur le Calvaire ot il a fondé ce royaume par la vertu 
de son sacrifice rédempteur ; aprés lui avoir dit comme Pierre : 
‘¢ Seigneur, tu as les paroles de la vie éternelle,”” vous ajoute- 
rez comme lui: ‘‘ Nous avons cru et nous avons connu que tu 
es le Christ, le Fils du Dieu vivant.” Amen!’ 


NOTES peara5: 


The text of this letter (xevi. al. xevii., ed. Keil, 1876) is sub- 
joined, with the translation of Mr. J. D. Lewis :— 


‘C. Printus Trayano ImMpPERATORI. 


‘Sollemne est mihi, domine, omnia de quibus dubito ad te 
referre. Quis enim potest melius vel cunctationem meam 
regere vel ignorantiam extruere? Cognitionibus de Chris- 
tianis interfui numquam; ideo nescio quid et quatenus aut 
puniri soleat aut quaeri. Nec mediocriter haesitavi sitne 


NOTE 11. 285 


aliquod discrimen aetatum an quamlibet teneri nihil a ro-— 
bustioribus differant, detur paenitentiae venia an ei qul 
omnino Christianus fuit desisse non prosit, nomen ipsum, 
si flagitiis careat, an flagitia cohaerentia nomini puniantur. 
Interim iz iis qui ad me tamquam Christiani deferebantur 
hune sum secutus modum. Interrogavi ipsos an essent 
Christiani. Confitentes iterum ac tertio interrogavi, sup- 
plicium minatus: perseverantes duci jussi. Neque enim 
dubitabam, qualecumque esset quod faterentur, pertinaciam 
certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere puniri. Fuerunt 
alii similis amentiae quos, quia cives Romani erant, adnotavi 
in urbem remittendos. Mox ipso tractatu, ut fieri solet, 
diffundente se crimine plures species inciderunt. Propositus 
est libellus sine auctore multorum nomina continens, Qui 
negabant esse se Christianos aut fuisse, cum praeeunte me 
deos appellarent et imagini tuae, quam propter hoc jusseram 
cum simulacris numinum adferri, ture ac vino supplicarent, 
praeterea male dicerent Christo, quorum nihil posse cogi 
dicuntur qui sunt re vera Christiani, dimittendos esse putavi. 
Alii ab indice nominati esse se Christianos dixerunt et mox 
negaverunt ; fuisse quidem sed desisse, quidam ante plures 
annos, non nemo etiam ante viginti quoque. Omnes et 
imaginem tuam deorumque simulacra venerati sunt [1] et 
Christo male dixerunt. Adfirmabant autem hance fuisse 
summam vel culpae suae vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato 
die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo quasi deo 
dicere secum invicem, seque sacramento non in scelus ali- 
quod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria 
committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati 
abnegarent: quibus peractis morem sibi discedendi fuisse, 
rursusque ad capiendum cibum, promiscuum tamen et in- 
noxium; quod ipsum facere desisse post edictum meum, 
quo secundum mandata tua hetaerias esse vetueram. Quo 
magis necessarium credidi ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae 
dicebantur, quod esset veri et per tormenta quaerere. Nihil 
aliud inveni quam superstitionem pravam immodicam. Ideo 
dilata cognitione ad consulendum te decucurri. Visa est 


286 NOTE 11. 


enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter pericli- 
tantium numerum. Multi enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, 
utriusque sexus etiam, vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur. 
Neque civitates tantum sed vicos etiam atque agros super- 
stitionis istius contagio pervagata est; quae videtur sisti et 
corrigi posse. Certe satis constat prope jam desolata templa 
coepisse celebrari et sacra sollemnia diu intermissa repeti 
pastumque venire victimarum, cujus adhue rarissimus emptor 
inveniebatur. Ex quo facile est opinari quae turba hominum 
emendari possit, si sit paenitentiae locus.’ 


‘Priny To TRAJAN. 


‘It is with me, Sir, an established custom to refer to you all 
matters on which I am in doubt. Who, indeed, is better able, 
either to direct my scruples or instruct my ignorance ? 

‘I have never been present at trials of Christians, and 
consequently do not know for what reasons, or how far, 
punishment is usually inflicted or inquiry made in their 
case. Nor have my hesitations been slight: as to whether 
any distinction of age should be made, or persons however 
tender in years should be viewed as differing in no respect 
from the full-grown; whether pardon should be accorded to 
repentance, or he who has once been a Christian should gain 
nothing by having ceased to be one: whether the very profes- 
sion itself if unattended by crime, or else the crimes necessarily 
attaching to the profession, should be made the subject of 
punishment. . 

‘Meanwhile, in the case of those who have been brought 
before me in the character of Christians, my course has been 
as follows:—I put it to themselves whether they were or 
were not Christians. To such as professed that they were, 
I put the inquiry a second and a third time, threatening 
them with the supreme penalty. Those who persisted I 
ordered to execution. For, indeed, I could not doubt, 
whatever might be the nature of that which they professed, 
that their pertinacity, at any rate, and inflexible obstinacy, 
ought to be punished. There were others afflicted with like 


NOTE 11. 287 


madness, with regard to whom, as they were Roman citizens, 
I made a memorandum that they were to be sent for judgement 
to Rome. Soon, the very handling of this matter causing, as 
often happens, the area of the charge to spread, many fresh 
examples occurred. An anonymous paper was put forth 
containing the names of many persons. Those who denied 
that they either were or had been Christians, upon their 
calling’ on the gods after me, and upon their offering wine 
and incense before your statue, which for this purpose I had 
ordered to be introduced in company with the images of the 
gods, moreover upon their reviling Christ—none of which 
things it is said can such as are really and truly Christians 
be compelled to do—these I deemed it proper to dismiss. 
Others named by the informer admitted that they were 
Christians, and then shortly afterwards denied it, adding 
that they had been Christians, but had ceased to be so, some 
three years, some many years, more than one of them as much 
as twenty years, before. All these, too, not only honoured 
your image and the effigies of the gods, but also reviled 
Christ. They affirmed, however, that this had been the sum, 
whether of their crime or their delusion; they had been in 
the habit of meeting together on a stated day, before sunrise, 
and of offering in turns a form of invocation to Christ, as to a 
god; also of binding themselves by an oath, xot for any 
guilty purpose, but not to commit thefts, or robberies, or 
adulteries, not to break their word, not to repudiate deposits 
when called upon; these ceremonies having been gone through, 
they had been in the habit of separating, and again meeting 
together for the purpose of taking food—food, that is, of an 
ordinary and innocent kind. They had, however, ceased from 
doing even this, after my edict, in which, following your 
orders, I had forbidden the existence of fraternities. This 
made me think it all the more necessary to inquire, even by 
torture, of two maid-servants, who were styled deaconesses, 
what the truth was. I could discover nothing else than a 
vicious and extravagant superstition; consequently having 
adjourned the inquiry, I have had recourse to your counsels, 


288 NOTE 12. 


Indeed the matter seemed to me a proper one for consultation, 
chiefly on account of the number of persons imperilled. For 
many of all ages and all ranks, ay, and of both sexes, are 
being called, and will be called, into danger. Nor are cities 
only permeated by the contagion of this superstition, but 
villages and country parts as well; yet 1t seems possible to 
stop it and cure it. It is in truth sufficiently evident that 
the temples, which were almost entirely deserted, have begun 
to be frequented, that the customary religious rites which had 
long been interrupted are being resumed, and that there is a 
sale for the food of sacrificial beasts, for which hitherto very few 
buyers indeed could be found. From all this it is easy to form 
an opinion as to the great number of persons who may be 
reclaimed, if only room be granted for penitence. —Tke Letters 
of the Younger Pliny literally translated, by John Delaware 
Lewis, M.A., 1879. 

Some objections which have been raised against the 
genuineness of this letter are conclusively answered by 
M. Boissier in the Revue Archéologique for Feb., 1876, p. 114. 
They are also overruled by M. Renan, who says in a note 
to Les Evangiles, p. 476: ‘Les objections qu’on a faites contre 
Pauthenticité de cette lettre ne sauraient prévaloir contre les 
arguments turés du style, et surtout de la place que la piece 
occupe dans la correspondance administrative de Pline et de 
Trajan, 


NOTE 12, p. 154. 


*AvaBréWas eis Tov ovpayoy etme’ ‘Kipte 6 Oeds, 6 mavro- 
Kpatwp, 6 Tov ayannrod Kat etdoyntod matdds cov “Incod 
Xpiotos marnp, Se ob tiv wept ood enlyvwow cidrpapyev, 6 
Oeds adyyéhwv Kal dvvdyewr Kal dons ktloews mavrdés te Tod 
yévous Tv Sikalwv, ot Gow evdmidv cov’ ebAoyG ce, bri Hélwods 
we THS Huepas Kal dpas tatrys, Tod haBety pépos ev appa Tov 
paptipwy é€v TO ToTnplo Tod Xpictod cov els dvdoracw wis 
alwviov Woxis Te Kal odparos év apOapola mvevpatos dylov' év 


NOTE 13. 289 


b 7, I] / 4 , - , \ n 
ots mpoodeyOelnv evemidv cov onuepov ev Ovala mio Kal mpoodexth, 
\ \ / APP | la ee rd x 

Kaas mpontoluacas Kal mpoehavepwoas Kai éTAHpwoas, 6 apevdys 
Kal ddnOivods Oeds. 81a TodTO Kal Tepl TavTwY cE aivd, ce evrAOYA, 

{ XS a > / 193 / ) / 9 a fa) 
oe 50€4¢o 814 Tod alwviov kal émoupaviou dpytepews Inood Xpiorod, 
ayanntod cov Taidds, ov ob cot oby atTo Kal TvedpatL ayio 
ddfa kal viv Kal els Tovs wéeAAOvTas aidvas. aynv.e—Martyrium 


Polycarpt, cap. xiv. ed. Zahn, 1876, 


NOTE 13, p. 154. 


The following is the original passage in St. Clement’s Epistle 
of which Dr. Lightfoot’s translation is given in the text :— 


Kai airnodpeda, extevn thy dénow Kal ikeolay Torovpevot, OTwS 
\ P \ \ Mg n 3 a b) Coy | 4 fal 
TOV apiOuov TOY KaTnpLOunuévoy TOV EKAEKT@V AVTOU EV DAW TO 
Kdopm Siapvddén aOpavotov 6 Syprovpyos Tay amavTwy did Tod 
b) / \ > rat) n n 3d e 9 fi ¢ na 9 4 
NyaTnpEevov Tatoos avtod ‘Incov Xpuortod, du ob éxadeoev Nuas aro 
4 >] lal 3 \ 3 / 3 2 / , >] , b) 
axdtovs eis POs, amo ayvwctas els eriyvwow Sdéns dvopatos ad- 
Lal \ € ny / 3 7 s \ A > / / - 
rod. | Ads uty, Képre], edmicev emt 70 dpxeydvov maons Kticews 
yy / > / 35 b] x n 7 ec nN 3 \ ? 
Ovoua cov, avoiEas Tovs ddOarpovs THs Kapdlas Tpav eis TO yLVo- 
\ / ¢ v4 5 id a) ed 3 c 7 P) , 
okey oe, TOV povon ‘ thtoToy ev wyAots Gyo ev aylows avatrayd- 
\ cal e 3 \ , 

PEVOV, TOV TaTELVoUYTA UBplW UTEpnpavayv, Tov diadvovta Aoyio- 
\ > al \ al \ > A \ \ ¢€ > 
povs €OvOv, TOV ToLodvTA TaTELWors els Hous Kal Tovs tYyndrods 
Tamelvovvta, TOV TAouTiCovra Kal mT@xlCovta, Tov amoxTelvoyta 

ls a 3 
kal (nv mowotvra, pdvov evepyérnvy Tvevpatwv Kat Oedv Tacns 
, \ 62 , 5) yall | elyayhs 5) x >? > 
capkos, Tov ‘émiBAeTOovTa ev Tats aBvoools TOY ETOTTHY av- 
Opwrtvev Epywyv, Tov Tov KiVdevdvTwv BonOdyv, Tov TaV ‘ aTNA- 
mins 
TLOWEVOY TOwTHpa, TOV TaVvTos TvEtpatos KTioTNnY Kal émloKoTOL, 
\ BY a 
TOV TANnOdvovTa €Ovn em yijs Kal ex advTwv exreLdyevoy Tors 
a , > re! a an b 
ayanavtas ce 61a Inood Xpicrod rod nyatnyevov maidds cov, du 
ov nas énaldevoas jylacas, etiunoas. “Afioduev oe, d€o70Ta, 
‘BonOov’ yevéoOar ‘kai dvTiArmropa’ judy. tors év OdrhpEer 
NM@V cOocov' TOs TaTELVOds eA€nTOV' TO’S TETTWKOTAS EyELPOV" 
Tois deopevors emidvnO' tots doeBels tacau’ Tovs mAaY@pMEvOUS 
Tov Aaovd aov exlotpeov' Xéptracov Tots TewSvtas' AVTpwcat 
\ n n 
Tovs deoplovs nuav' eEavacrnoov Tors dobevodvtas’ TapakdAeoov 
a x a € 
Tovs dAtyouxotvras’ ‘yvwtecav’ amavra ‘Ta €Ovn, Sti ‘ov et O 
U 


290 NOTE 13. 


nan a \ a 
Ocds pdvos, kal *Incots Xpioros 6 mats cov, Kat ‘jets Aads cov 
can n nan 3 
kal mpdBara THs vouns cod. 
\ ‘\ +f n 4 fr X\ n 3 4 

LX. Sd riv dévaov Tod Kdopov ciotacw b1a TOY evepyoupEevav 
! 7. 5 \ Ko XN 3 / of ¢ an 3 
édavepotolnoas’ ot, Kupie, tiv olxovpéevny Exticas, 6 muaTos év 
mdoats tais yeveats, dikatos év Tots Kpivacw, Oavpactos ev iaxvi 

Xi r 7 ¢€ oC A | T mn TiC l \ . »\ x ~ TA 
kal peyadompeneia, 6 copds ev TH KTiCeLv Kal ovVETos ev TO 
yevoueva édpdcal, 6 dyads ev Tols dpmpévois Kal mLoTOSs ev TOIS 

/ SN ‘ c= Lo \ >] / 3 BA Cer is P) , 
meTroldaw emt oé, § €XeHpuov Kal oixtippoy, des Huiy Tas dvoutas 
€ n \ > 3 , \ ~ , \ , \ 
NUOV Kal Tas GOLKias Kal TA TapaTT@paTa Kal TAnppeEAElas. [1 
Aoylon Tacay dyaptiay SovAwv cov kat TaLd.oKOv, GANA KaOdpioov 
eon \ \ a ite , Nec , N 
nas Tov Kabapiopov THs ons adnOeias, kat ‘ katevOvvoy Ta dLa~ 

/ 5 lal ¢ 2 € , > x, /, None , ¢ / 
Bypara’ Huey 6 év dovdtnte’ Kal Sukacoovyvyn Kal amAdryTe * Kapdias 

/ 3 mi Ty a \ L* \ + Mp i £ a ¥F pa 
mopeverOar’ Kat § Tovety TA KAAG Kal evaperta eveTidy’ cov Kal éva- 
TOY TOY ApXdVT@OY HuUOV. val, deamoTAa, * emihavoy TO TpdcwTOdV 

PIT G Pe ASS rad > >) ah 3 = Bats b] \ én e. 6 Papen. 
gov ép’ iuas eis ayala ev eipyvy, eis TO oxenacOjvar jas ‘TH 
xelpt cov TH Kpatara’ Kal proOjva. amd maons dpaptias TO 
¢ M4 Va ae AS 9 \ en (45 pe 5.784 an , 

Bpaxlovi cov T@ tYnr@O’ Kal pdcar Huas and TOV pucotvTaY 
nuas ddlkas* dds opdvoray Kal elpnynv jyiv te Kal macw Tots 
KUTOLKOVTW THY ynV, KAOas Edwkas Tots TaTpacLY HUOY, ‘ émLKahov-= 
pévoy’ oe adtav daiws ‘ év moter kal adnOela,’ [adore oad CecOar 
nuas| daynxdovs yivouevovs TO TavtroKpatopt Kal mavapéT@ dvd- 
part cov, Tots Te pxovew Kal jyoupEvols Huav em THs yijs. 

LXI. 30, d€o070ra, CSwKas tiv e€ovolav THs Bactrelas adtots 
dud Tod peyadompeTrods kal dvexdinyyrov Kpatovs gov, els TO pia 
OKOVTAS Mas THY UTO Gov adtois Sedomerny Sdfav Kal TYsnY b70- 
TaccecOat avrois, pndev evavtTiovpévovs TO OedAnpatl cov’ ois dds, 
Ko Ad / 3 / ¢€ ld b) / >} \ / a \ 

vple, vytelay, eipryvnv, dudvotay, evoTaderay, eis TO Si€TELY avTOvS 

X\ on. an / > a € , e 4 \ 

THY UTO God dedopevnyv avtois Hyeuoviay ampockdTas. ov yap, 
3 , n n an val n 

déomoTa éTovpavie, Baciried TOV aldvwv, dSldws Tots viots Trav 

> , / \ a a a 

avOpdrwv ddgav kat ty Kal e€ovolay tay ent tis ys brap- 

" \ , A 
xovtmpv’ ov, Kvpre, dvevOvvov tiv Bovdjy attav Kata TO Kaddv 

\ ML >) , 

Kal EvapeoToV EVvOTLOV Gov, Omws SietovTEs ev Eipyvn Kal mMpavrnTL 
’ nan X\ € \ n val 
evoeBOs THY UVTO Gov avtois dedouevny eLovoiav tAed cov Tvy- 

/ € 4 a n 
xavwow. O povos duvatos roijoa Tadta Kal meptocdrepa ayaba 

Q’ (fey \ ta x 4 6 5 ie row %: / \ 4 
MeO ny@v, col ELoporoyovpear dud Tod apxtepews Kal mpooTaTov 

na n ¢ an >) n n 
TOV WuxGv nav Inood Xpiorod, dv’ ob cor ) bd€a Kal } peyado- 


id \ ce) \ > an an lal 
ovvn Kal viv Kal els yevedy yevedvy kal els Tovs aidvas Tv aidven. 


ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 291 


dynv.—St. Clement of Rome,an Appendix. 


1077, 


By J. B, Lightfoot, 


NOTE 14, p. 160. 


The subjoined extracts from Athanasius’s Treatise ‘ De In- 
carnatione Verbi,’ will illustrate the statement in the text. 
The accompanying translation is that published by Whiston, 


In 1713 :— 
Il. O Ocods 6 rdvTay éxwv 
i f of \ na Pp) , 
TO KpaTos, OTE TO TOV AVOpOTWY 
yéevos bia Tod lélov dyov emolet, 
KaTlwoov madi. Thy dobéverav 
n , » a ¢€ Pd e ‘\ 
TNS PVYTEWS AVT@V, WS OVX LKAVT 
4 3 € Los n be 
eln €& Eautns yvovar tov Anpl- 
oupyov, ovd Grws evvotay AaBetv 
an n \ \ b 3 / 
®cov, T@ Tov pev Elva ayevy- 
Tov, Ta O€ @€ OVK GYTWY yeye- 
a ‘ \ X 3 , 
vijcat, Kat TOY pev aoeparov 
eivat, Tovs b€ avOpeTovs KaTw 
Tov copare meTAGC OAL, Kal AS 
x o Q nan nan x 
TOAAHD ELVAL THY TOV YEVNT OV EA- 
Aewpiy Tpds THY TOD TETOLNKOTOS 
KaTdAnww Kal yvGou' éhenoas 
TAaAW TO yevos TO avOpenuvor, 
dre 6n dyabds dv, odk adikev 
> \ , ™ € ~ , 
avTovs épjuous THs EavTod yvad- 
¢ te ee | , A \ 
oews, va fy avevyntov €xwot kat 
To etvat. lola yap dvnots tots 
TETOINMEVOLS [L2) YLVOBTKOVEL TOV 
€avt@v moutny; “H mas dv 


> ad \ \ la \ 
elev NOYLKOL M2) YW'@OKOVTES TOV 


11. God that has the power 
over all things, when He made 
mankind by His own Word, 
considered withal the weak- 
ness of their nature, that it 
was not sufficient of itself to 
know their Creator, or indeed 
to have almost any notion of 
Him at all, because the One 
was unbegotten and the other 
was made out of nothing; 
as also because the One was 
incorporeal, and men were, as 
to their inferior part, formed 
of a body; and because, upon 
the whole, there was a mighty 
defect in things that were 
made with regard to the com- 
prehension and knowledge of 
Him that made them. He 
also out of His goodness had 
compassion on mankind ; and 
accordingly He did not leave 
them destitute of the know- 
ledge of Himself, that their 
being might not be to them 
unprofitable. For what ad- 
vantage would existence be 


U2 


292 


Aa & s 
tod Ilatpds Adyov, év @ kal 
ION 
yeydvacw ; Ovdev yap ovde 
addywv Siapeper Eueddrov, ef 
TA€ov ovdeyv TOV TEplyel@y ETE- 
\ 
yivwokov. Ti S€ Kat 0 Oecos 
- / 
érroles TovTOUs, Ad Vv ovK n0E- 
Ance ywweoxecOar; “Odev iva 
\ a td 3 \ ‘\ 
pn TovTO yevntat, ayabos av, 
Led 997 3 , 3 a an 
THs idlas e€elkovos avTots TOU 
Kuplov jyav “Inood Xpiorot 
/ \ a“ te 
peTadlowolt, Kal moLlet TovTOUS 
a ‘ e Ab es S WM b 
Kata THY EavTod eikéva Kal Kab 
e id A ¢ X\ mn 4 
Omolwoww* iva dla THs ToLavTNS 
Xapitos tiv elkdva voodvtes, 
A€yw 67 TOV Tod Tlarpds Ad- 
yov, durndadow evvoray & av- 
tov tod I[latpds AaBeiv, kal 
, \ \ la! 
YWOCKOVTES TOV TolnTHY (aor 
3 , 
Eevdatpova 


TOV Kal pakdpLov 


dvtws Blov. "AAN advOpwr7rot 
Tad Tapadpoves, KaToAtyo- 
, \ e/ an / 
pnoavtTes kal ovtw THs doeions 
airots xdptros, Tocotroy dme- 
aTpapynoay tov Ocdv, Kal roc- 
a 5 / € lal Q 
otrov €Oolwoay eavtey thy 
\ € \ 
Wox7V, @S fn ovov eTabéabat 
THs Tept Oeod evvolas, GAAQ Kal 
e 3 b] e if € na > 
Erepa avd’ érépwv Eavtois dva- 
thacacbat. EidwAd Te yap 


p) \ n 3 / c al > 
avti THs aAnOeias EavTots avetv- 


NOTE 14. 


to those beings that were 
made, if they did not know 
their Maker? Or how could 
they be reasonable creatures if 
they did not know the Word 
(or Reason) of the Father, by 
whom they were made? For 
they would not at all differ 
from the irrational creatures 
if they had no notions but of 
earthly things. And why did 
God make such creatures by 
which He had no mind to be 
known? Indeed, to prevent 
this ignorance He out of His 
goodness made them par- 
takers of His own image, our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and made 
them according to His own image 
and likeness, that by such 
grace bestowed on them they 
might reflect on that image, 
I mean the Word of the 
Father; and so might obtain 
by Him the knowledge of the 
Father; and that when they 
knew their Maker they might 
live a really happy and blessed 
life. But men grew foolish 
again, and despised even this 
grace which was bestowed 
upon them, and did so far re- 
ject God, and so far pollute 
their own souls, as not only 
to forget the notions of God, 
but to frame for themselves 
one thing for another. For 


ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 293 


, »,\ aN b) y ay 
TOOAVTO, Kal TA OUK OVTA TOU dv- 
n l4 A / 
Tos @eod mpoetriunoay, rh xtloer 
X \ ? - 
Tapa TOV KtTicavta AaTpevorTes, 
Kal TO ye xelpiotor, dtu Kal eis 
fa kal eis AlOovs, kal eis Tacay 
DAnv kal avOpaémovs tiv Tov 
n \ 
Qcod Tiyv 


TAElova TOUTWY TOLODYTES HATED 


petetiOovv, Kal 


ev Tots €umpooden elpntat. Too- 
odrov d€ noéBovr, ott Kal dal- 
> , \ \ 
movas eOpynoKevoy AoiTOV Kat 
Oeovs avnydpevor, Tas éTLOuputas 
avTav anomAnpobyres. Ovaias 
A s >) , x 3 
Te yap awy adAdywv Kal av- 
Opdmav opayds, woneEp elpntat 
4 >) Le a | a 
mpOreEpov, eis TO Ekelvav KaOjKov 
2 / c ¢ \ a 
émeTeAouv, TAEloVY EavTovs Tots 
3 tA 3 , 
EKelvMY oOloTpHYacL KaTadeo- 
7 \ a) fa) X 
pevovtes. Ata TovTo youyv kal 
a » 3 Cala ae / 
payetar Tap avutots edudacKorTo, 
Kal pavTeia Kata TOTOY Tovs 
avOpamovs émAdva, Kal mavTes 
< / \ rapt ile ¢€ n 
TA yEvErEws Kal TOU Elvat EavToY 
Ta altia Tots doTpols Kal Tots 
3 b) \ a >) is 
KaT ovpavoy Tacw averidovr, 
noev mA€ov TOV dalvopevav 


AoytCopevot. Kal Gdrws aavra 


» 


ea y! f \ 
nv aoeBelas kal mapavopias 
peta, Kal povos 6 Oeods ovde 6 


, , 3 , Mg 
toutov Aoyos émEeylvboKeTO, Kal- 


they formed to themselves 
idols instead of the truth, and 
preferred what had no being 
to the real God, serving the 
creature more than the Creator ; 
and, what was still worse, they 
transferred the honour of God 
unto wood, and stone, and all 
sorts of matter, and to men ; 
nay, they did what was still 
worse than all this, as we have 
already shewed. Indeed they 
came to that degree of impiety 
that they at last worshipped 
demons and called them gods, 
and filled up the measure of 
their lusts; for they offered, 
as we have before discoursed, 
the sacrifices of brute crea- 
tures, and performed the obla- 
tion of human victims, in a 
way agreeable to such idola- 
trous superstitions, rendering 
themselves still more and more 
obnoxious to their furious 
emotions. And by this means 
magic arts were taught by 
them, and predictions in every 
place deceived men, and all 
people ascribed the causes of 
their nativity and of their 
being to the stars, and to all 
the heavenly bodies, dreaming 
of nothing besides what was 
seen; and, in short, all the 
world was full of impiety and 
wickedness; God only and 


294 


To. ovK adavn EavTov Tois av- 
Opérois emikptriyas, ovdé andj 
THY TEpt EavTod yvOow avrots 
Sedmxos, GAAG Kal TorkiAws Kal 
61a TOAAGY avTHVY avtots épa- 


TAOOAS. 


€ 


12. Adrapkyns pev yap nv 7 
\ 

kar elkdva yapts yywpicew Tov 
Ocdv Adyor, kal &’ adrod tov 
Tlarépat eidws 5@ 6 Oeds rHv 
acbéveray TGV dvOpdTwV, Tpo- 

, \ a 9 / tf 
EvonoaTO Kal THS apedclas TOU- 
Tov, iv’ éav duednoaey dv Eav- 
n \ \ 3 a 4 
TOV TOV Ocov ETLyVGval, Exwot 
dua TOV THs KTicEws Epyov TOV 
Anpuovpyov py dyvoeiv. ? Emed7) 
6€ 7) avOpdtav dyédca emt Ta 
xelpova kar ddtyov émikata- 

f , / e 
Baivet, mpoevonoato mad oO 
cds kal THs ToLtav’rns ad’Tdv 
3 / , \ / 
aoleveias, voyov Kal mpodiytas 

QA b) n , ») 
Tous avtois yvepiyovs ato- 

b] 

oret\as, wv’, éav cal els Tov ov- 
pavoy dxvjcect avaBrAayat kat 
yvGvat Tov ToLnTHY, Exwow ek 
Tov eyy’s tiv didacKadrlav. 
wv 
AvOpeto yap Tapa avOpdtapv 


3 / ee ~ \ 
eyyutepw Svvavtat padeiv rept 


NOTE 14. 


His word were not known; 
although He had not concealed 
Himself from men, nor indeed 
had merely afforded them one 
means of knowing of Himself, 
but had redoubled them in 
diverse manners and by various 
ways. 

12. For that grace which 
was afforded them, after the 
image of God, was sufficient to 
make known God the Word, 
and by Him the Father, to 
them. But God, who knew 


the weakness of men, made 


provision even for their care- 
lessness, that if they were 
negligent as to the know- 
ledge of God from themselves, 
they might have means to 
avoid being ignorant of their 
Creator from the works of the 
creation. And whereas the 
carelessness of men did by 
degrees grow still worse and 
worse, God did farther make 
provision for even this weak- 
ness of theirs also, by sending 
them laws and prophets from 
among themselves; that when 
they would not take pains so 
much as to lift up their eyes to 
heaven to know their Maker, 
they might have other readier 
means at hand to instruct 
them. For men do most 
naturally learn from other 


ST. ATHANASIUS ON 


TOV KpeiTTOVwV. "ELov ovv jy, 


avaBrépavras avtovs els 0 
/ “ > fal \ 
MeyeOos TOU ovpavov, Kal KaTa- 
VONTAVTAS THY THs KTioEws Gpuo- 
SP, an \ , e , 
viav, yvOvar Tov TavTys nyELova 
\ fal A , x Les 
tov Tov Ilatpos Aoyov, tov tn 
e a 3 f 7 / 
€avtov eis mavTa Tpovola yvwpl- 
Covta mace Tov Ilarépa, kat d1a 
an > v4 na ef > 
TovUTO Ta OAa KLVOvYTA, iva OL 
2) n lj , \ 
avtod mdyTes yiveoKwou Tov 
©cdv. *H ef rotro adrots jv 
b] > a a 6 Q 
OKYNpOV, KaY Tots aytows SuvaTov 
5 ’ \ iA \ b 
NV avTovs ouvTvyxavelv, Kal dt 
Ss a o \ ~ 4 
avTov padety TOV TOV TaVYTwV 
Synptoupyov Ocdyv, tov tov Xpic- 
tov Ilarépa’ kat Stu ray elda- 
Awv 77) Opnoketa AOedTns Earl Kat 
b] 
mdons aoeBelas peoty. “EEov 
S€ iv avtovs, kal Tov vdpov 
] 4 - , 
€yvaxotas, TavoacGat maons 
? \ \ me ey 
mTapavoutas, Kal TOY Kat dpeTny 
(joa Biov. Ovde yap dia "Tov- 
7 4 e Low 
dalovs povovs 6 vopos Tv, ovde 
6: avrovs povous of mpopiras 
€TEUTOVTO, AAAG Tpds *Iovdatous 
XN 3 4 \ pe 
Mev ETEuTOVTO, Kal Tapa “lov- 
Satwy edidxovto’ mdaons d€ Tis 


olkovperns joav diWacKddvov 


THE INCARNATION. 295 


men what is most for their 
advantage. It was therefore 
in their power to look up to 
the maenitude of heaven, and 
by the contemplation of the 
harmony of the creation to 
know Him that is the ruler 
thereof, the Word of the 
Father, who by His provi- 
dence over all things makes 
known the Father to all, and 
for this reason moves the uni- 
verse, that all by Him may 
know God. Or if this method 
was too troublesome for them, 
at least 1t was in their power 
to converse with holy men, 
and by their means to arrive 
at the knowledge of God the 
Creator of all things, the 
Father of Christ, and might 
discover that the worship of 
idols was an instance of athe- 
ism and a thing full of all 
impiety. It was also in their 
power, by the knowledge of 
the law, to leave off all kinds 
of transgression, and to lead 
a life by the rules of virtue. 
For the law was not given 
only on account of the Jews, 
nor were the prophets sent 
only out of regard to them ; 
but while they were indeed 
sent to the Jews, and were by 
them persecuted, they were a 
foundation of sacred instruc- 


296 


tepov ths Tepl Oeod yraceuws, 
\ a“ st XN / 

Kal THS KaTa Wouynv TOALTELAS. 

Tooat’tys ovv ovons THs TOU 

©cod dyabdryntos Kal didav- 

Opwrias, Sums ot GvOpwrol, VI- 
zw. a 4 e n 

KOPEVOL Tals TapavTixa noovats, 
\ a X\ , 

kal Tats Tapa Saidvav pavta- 
, Soe o) / 3 3 / 

olats Kal Gmarats, ovK avévevoay 

3 
mpos THY GAjnOeay, GAA’ EavTovs 
4 a Age / 

TAELOOL KAKOLS KAL ALAapTNMAcLY 

evedopnoav, os pykett Soxeiy 

avtovs AoytKovs, GAAG GAdyous 


2] nf , , 
€k TOV TpOTeV Voiced Oat. 


13. Otrw tolvyy ddoywlev- 
Twv TOV avOpeétwv, Kab otta 
a a lf = 
THS OalmoviKyns TAaYYNS ETLOKLA- 
Covons Ta TavTaxov, kal KpUTT- 
ovens THY TEpt Tod aAnOwWod 
©cod yvdow, ti tov Oecov 
édet Tovey 5 Suwmjoat To THAL- 

lal 4 5 n x 2! 
KOUTOV Kal adetvat Tovs av- 
Opdrovs td Saiydvwov ta- 
la \ XN , > 
vacbar, kal pi) yiweéokew av- 
Tovs Tov Oedv ; Kat ris } ypela 
Tov e& dpyns xaT elkdva Ocod 
yever$ar tov avOpwrov ; "Ede 


ydp avtoy amA@s ws GAoyov 


NOTE 14. 


tion to all the world, in divine 
knowledge and in spiritual 
conversation. Now although 
the goodness and lovingkind- 
ness of God were so great, 
yet were men so subdued by 
present pleasures and those 
imaginations and deceptions 
which were derived from de- 
mons, that they did not at- 
tempt to arrive at truth, but 
indulged themselves in greater 
evils and instances of wicked- 
ness, till they seemed no longer 
to be rational creatures, but 
rather deserved from their 
conduct to be esteemed brute 
beasts. 


13. Wherefore when men 
were thus become brutes, and 
demoniacal errors enveloped 
every part of the universe, 
and took away the means of 
knowing what concerned the 
true God, what was it fit for 
God to do? ‘To keep silence 
in so important a case, and to 
suffer men to be deceived by 
demons and to be without the 
knowledge of God? If so, 
what occasion was there that 
man should first have been 
made after the image of God? 
For he ought either to have 
been made barely an irrational 
creature, or when he was made 


ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION, 297 


yevérOat, 7) yevowevov oytiKov 
THY TOV AAdywv Cwiv phy Brody. 
Tis d€ dAws Hv ypela evvotas 
avtov daBety mept Ocod eg 
> ™ 3 ~~ xO a »# / 
apxjs; €b yap ovdé voy agios 
éoTt AaBely, eder wyde Kata Ti 
apxny adt@ dS00jva. Tide kat 
+» “A , Lad ‘\ 
OperAos TH TETONKOTL Ocw, 7) 
tola 66€a atr@ dv ein, el of OT 
QUTOU YyEVOuEVOL OV TmpocKUY- 
ovow avtw, add’ Erépovs etvat 
\ 4 = \ , 
TOUS TETOLNKOTAS avTOUS Vopl- 
Covow; Etvpioxera yap 6 Ocds 
‘4 / \ > c “ ? 
ETépols Kat ovx ~avT@ TovTous 
Onrovpynoas. Eira Baoireds 
vey, avOpwnos dv, Tas tm av- 
Tov KTLoOEioas y@pas ovK adin- 
ow e€xddTous érepois Sovdevew, 
ovde mpos dAAovs KaTadevyewv. 
3 , 
GAAG ypaupacw avtovs vTo- 
, 
PiuvnoKel, ToAAGKLs O€ Kal dia 
ld a 
gikov abrots emoréAAe, ef de 
} if / be 
kal xpela yevnrat, avros mapa- 
7 a“ 7 x 
yiveTal, TH Tapovoia Aoitov 
b] a, n 4 vA ‘ 
avtovs dvowmay pdvov iva py 
Erépots SovAetowor, Kal dpyov 
atrod TO &pyov yérnra. Ov 


TOAA® TAECOV 6 Oeds TAv EavTod 


rational not to live the life of 
brutes. And besides, in this 
case what occasion was there 
for him at first to be endued 
with notions of God? For if 
he be not now worthy of them, 
it was not necessary that they 
should have been implanted in 
him at first. Farther, what 
advantage could this be to 
God that made him; or what 
glory could redound to Him 
hereby; if those men that were 
made by Him do not worship 
Him, but imagine that other 
beings were their makers? 
Since upon this supposition it 
appears that God created them 
for others and not for Him- 
self. Moreover, if there be but 
an earthly king, he does not 
suffer that those places which 
himself has built should be 
delivered up to serve any 
others, or should revolt to 
others, but he warns them 
by letters, nay frequently 
sends to them by his friends, 
and even, if need be, he comes 
at length himself and shames 
them ; and all this that they 
may not serve others, and so 
his own workmanship be to 
no purpose. Is it not then 
much more reasonable that 
God should have regard to 
His own creatures, that they 


298 


/ / \ \ ‘ 
KTLOLATOY peloeTAl TPOS TO LT 
mAarnOnvat an’ avtod, Kal Tots 

co 14 
ovK ovat SovdAevelv, wadtora OTL 

5 
) TovavTn TAaYn aTwdetas av- 
n A 4 
rots airia Kal adavicpov ‘yive- 
rar; ovk eder S& Ta dma§ Koww- 
, an fal n 3 , 
yycavTa THs TOU O«ovd Elkovos 
amokéaba. Ti ody eer movety 
Tov @edv; “H ri Ger yeveobar 
GAN 7) TO Kat’ eikdva mad 
dvavedoat, va bv avtod madw 
avtov yvdvat dvvnPdowv ot adv- 
Opwrot; Totro d& mas av éye- 
, >) aS > ea an a 
yovel, ef pn avTns THs Tov 
a / 
©cotv elkdvos mapayevopevys 
Tod Lwripos Huav “Inood Xpis- 
A 45 id x bs > 
Tov; At avOpoTwv pev yap ovK 
> \ > ‘ \ ) \ > 
nv OvvaTov, eTEL Kal avTol KaT 
eixova yeyovaci' GAN ovde 6.’ 
ayyAiov. otd€ yap ovdé adrol 
eiow eixoves. “Oder 6 Tod Ocod 
n ! 
Adyos 8’ Eavtot tapeyevero, tv’ 
e 591% ‘\ Lay \ \ 
@s eikov @y Tov Ilarpos tov 
b] be BY 5 / 
Kat eikova avOpwenov avaktioa 

a yx 
duvnOj. “AdAws b€ TadAWw ov« 
x 3 4 > Aree / 3 
dp eyeyovel, ef pn 0 Oavatos av 
kal 7 Oopa e€adhavicbeica, 


d0ev elkoTws EAaBE TOpa OvyTor, 


NOTE 14. 


may not wander from Him 
and serve what has no exist- 
ence, especially when such 
errors must turn to their de- 
struction and perdition? It 
was not therefore fit for beings 
which had once been par- 
takers of the image of God 
to perish. What was then 
fit for God to do, or what else 
was fit to be done but to pro- 
vide again for the renovation 
of what was made after His 
image, that so thereby men 
might be able again to know 
Him? Now how could this 
be done but by the coming: of 
the image of God itself, our 
Saviour Jesus Christ? For 
by men this thing could not 
be done, since themselves were 
made according to the image; 
nor indeed by angels, since 
even they are not the images 
of God. Whence it was that 
the Word of God came of 
Himself, that He as being the 
image of the Father, might be 
able to create man again who 
had once been created after 
that image. Nay even then 
this had not been done unless 
death had been, and mortality 
was to be abolished. Whence 
He, as it was but reasonable, 
took a mortal body, that so 
for the time to come death 


ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 299 


iva kal 6 Odvatos év atte hot- 
mov e€ahavicOjvar duvnO7n, Kal 
of kar’ eikdva mdaAw dvakatvic- 
Odo. avOpwror. Ovxody Erépov 
\ , X\ / > | Ly 
mpos TavTynY THY xpelayv ovdK TV 
>] \ a cheer a , 
€l fq) THS ELKOVOS TOU LlaTpos. 
14. ‘Qs yap tis ypadelons 
ev E0AM pophys Tapadario- 
Oetons ex tdv eEobev pitwr, 
maw xpela TovToy Tapaye- 


€ 


véoOat, ov Kal éotw 7 popdn, 
¢ +) mn ¢ be 
wa avakawicOnvat 1  eikov 
gud 5 a 5 alice e é \ 
duvnOn év TH avtTn tvAn dia 
X\ \ 3 , \ e€ PA bas § 
yap THY ekelvou ypadyny n avTy 
kat tAn ev 7H Kal yéypanrat, 
ovK exBaddertat, GAN’ év avTH 
) n be ca) \ 
avatumouTat. Kata tovto kal 
¢ / a X € \ 
0 tavaytos Tov Ilatpos Tuos, 
Sea. bY a \ , 
elk@v @v Tov Llatpos, mapeyeveto 
p ey" \ . , , ¢ 
€ml TOUS TMETEPOVS TOTOUS, Wa 
x 3 b oe | / BA 
TOV KAT QUTOV TETOLNMEVOY Gv- 
Opamov avakawion, Kal os amo- 
, c/ XX oN ca L4 
Aomevoy evpy Ola THS TOV apap- 
a e 
TIOV ahEerews, 7) Pyot Kal adros 
éy tots EvayyeAlois* "HAOov 76 
3 , € tal \ n 
GTOAOMEVOY eEUpEly Kal coca. 


"Odev kat pos rovs *Iovdatous 


eheyer’ “Edy py tis avayer- 


might by Him be abolished, 
and men that were made after 
that image might again be 
renewed, Wherefore no one 
was capable of this attempt 
but the Image of the Father. 


14. For it is here as with 
the shape of a man engraven 
in wood but disfigured by ex- 
ternal filth; there is occasion 
for the presence of that man 
himself again whose statue it 
is, that so the image may be 
renewed in the same piece of 
wood again. For the wood 
itself wherein the figure is is 
therefore not cast away, be- 
cause of its bearing the man’s 
figure ; but the figure is en- 
graved over again. In the 
same manner did that most 
Holy Son of the Father, who 
is His very image, come into 
the places where we live, that 
he might renew man again 
who was made after Him, and 
that He might find him as 
one that had been lost, by 
the remission of sins, agree- 
ably to what He says Himself 
in the Gospels, Z came to find 
and to save that which was lost. 
Whence it was also that He 
said to the Jews, Hucept a 
man be begotten again; not 


300 


tal ” / 
yyy ov THY EK yuvalKOv yev- 
vyow onpalvar, GoTEp UTEVOOUD 
€xetvol, GAAA THY avayevvo- 
XN 
pevny kal dvaxtidomevny Woyny 
Lax! lo b) \ 
év To kat eikdva dnAGv. “Ezedn 
dé kal eldwAopavia Kal abedrnys 
a“ ‘\ 3 / t ¢€ 
KaTelxe THY olKovErnY, Kal 7 
\ a n 3 / ” 
mTept Oeovd yvoois eETmEKpUTTO 
> lr 
Tivos Hv Sidagar THY olkovpEevnV 
4 
mept Tlarpds; “AvOparov dain 
gS fd 
tus av; “AAX’ ovk Hv avOpoTwv 
évov THY bpyALoy Tacay vrEdO- 
ely, ovTe TH vae TocodTOV 
n ?] 
icxvdvrwy Spapyeiv, odre agio- 
/ \ , / 
mioTMy TmEpl TOVTOV SvvapEevwV 
/ BA A \ n 
yeveoOat, ovTe mpos THY TeV 
Satovev anatny Kat pavtaciav 
¢€ n Jere a b) na 
ixavov 6. E€avT@v avtioTyvat. 
Ildvrwy yap kata Weyny 7An- 
/ \ / \ 
yepTwy Kal TapaxevTwoy Tapa 
ral n >) 4 \ n 
THS OALMLOVLKHS ATAaTNS, Kal TNS 
n be] / , n 
TOV ElSOAWY paTaLOTHTOS, TOs 
oldy Te HY avOparov Wey Kal 
avOpdtwv vodv peTtametoat, OTrou 
ye ovde dpav avrovs dvvayrat ; 
O S& pi) Opa tis, Tas dvvavra 
an 3 3 
petamadedoat; “AAN’ tows av 


y \ / rd o 
Tis e€lmoL THY KTLoOW. apKeioAat. 


NOTE 14. 


meaning the generation ac- 
cording to the flesh, as they 
supposed, but declaring that 
new generation and new crea- 
tion of the soul which is made 
according to His image. Now 
seeing that the madness of 
idolatry and atheistical no- 
tions overspread the whole 
world, and divine knowledge 
was hidden from men, to 
whom did it belong to in- 
struct the world concerning 
the Father? Some body per- 
haps may say it belonged to 
a man. But men are not 
capable of travelling over all 
the earth, as not of a nature 
strong enough for that pur- 
pose, nor of sufficient credit 
for the same, nor able of them- 
selves to oppose the deceits 
and delusions of demons. For 
when the souls of all men 
were affected and disordered 
by the deceits of demons and 
the vanity of idols, how was it 
possible for them to persuade 
the souls of men and the minds 
of men to reform, when they 
were not able so much as to 
see the men _ themselves? 
Now if anyone does not see 
a person, how can he persuade 
him to reform? But perhaps 
some will say, that the 
creation is sufficient for that 


ST. ATHANASIUS ON 


b] b) 
AAN et  Ktlows tpKel, ovK av 
3 , a “ / 
eyeyovel Ta THALKAUTA Kaka. 
7 
Hy yap kat 7 xtiows* kal ovdev 
HTTov ot avOpwror ev TH avTh 
p eee 
mept @Oeod mAdvyn ekvAtovTo. 
i) 9 Ss an 
Tivos ovy jv mdAw xpela 7 Tod 
Ocod Adyov Tod kal Wryjy kal 
vovy Op@vTos, Tov Kal Ta GAG ev 
n “A \ >) 
™m Ktloer Kivodvtos, Kal 
avTav yvwpiCovtos Tov [arépa ; 
Tov yap 1a THs tdtas mpovolas 
\ / n v4 
Kal Olakoopnoews TOV OAwD bi- 
/ a 
ddoKovros Tept Tod [larpos, av- 
TOU Kal THY avTHY dibacKadlay 
> n an S \ 3 
avavedoat. IIl@s ovv av éye- 
; penne ¥ yy ¥ 
yovet Tovto; Lows av tis €itot, 
bru e€ov jv bia TGv adrav, woTe 
TAAL Oa TOV THs KTloEws Epywv 
Ta TEpl avTod Oelfar. "AAA? 
> > fa) 
ovK Vv dodadés Ett TovTO. Odxé 
ye’ Tapeidov yap TovTo TpoTepov 
of dvOpwmot, kal ovK ere pev 
dvw, Katw d€ Tovs dpOadpovs 
2 / 7 pda td b) 
eoxyKkacw. ~Odev €ikoTws, av- 
Opétouvs OéAwy @hEAT CAL, as 
a / 
avOpwmos emlOnuet, AauBavev 
e a a 4 3 7 \ 
EavT@ cHua Gpowov €xeivots, Kal 


€x TGV KaT@’ éyw 67) dia Tov 


THE INCARNATION, 301 


purpose. But if the creation 
had proved sufficient, such 
great evils had not been in 
the world. For the crea- 
tion has existed all along, and 
yet men have nevertheless 
wallowed in the same error 
concerning God. Who then 
was it that was wanting but 
God the Word, Who sees the 
very soul and the mind, and 
Who moved the universe at 
the creation, and thereby dis- 
covered the Father. For He 
that instructed men concern- 
ing the Father by His own 
providence and disposal of the 
universe was the proper per- 
son to renew the instruction. 
How then was this to be 
done? Perhaps some may 
say 1t might be done by the 
same means as before, and 
that He might shew them 
God again by the works of 
creation. But this was not 
now to be done to any sure 
effect; by no means. For 
men had overlooked that be- 
fore, and did no longer cast 
their eyes upwards, but down- 
ward. Whereupon with good 
reason it was, that when He 
was desirous to do good to 
men, he sojourned among 
them as a man, by taking to 
Himself a body like one of 


302 


TOU dopatos Epywr' iva ot pi 
JeAnoavtes abtov yvOvat ek Tis 
3 x ied / \ e 
els Ta Oa Tpovolas Kal nyE- 
4 3 a PN 3 ca b] 
povias auTod Kady €K TOY OL 
avtod TOV capaTos épyov yva- 
gwvrat TOY évy TH Tdpartt TOD 
©cod Adyov, kat du’ adrod tov 


Ilarépa. 


15. Qs yap ayabds bidac- 

, an “e a 

KaAos Knoopmevos TOV EavToU 

a \ >" / 
padntav, Tovs pr Suvayevous 
éx TOV percovoy @dedAnOjvat, 
, X\ nn a 4 
TAVTMS O14 TOV EvTEAEDTEPwY 
Ng 3 x , 

ovykaraBalvay advtovs madevet, 
otrws Kat 6 Tov @eod Adyos, 
kabws Kat 6 TlatAds dyow" 
> X\ XS 3 ” an 
Exedy yap €v tH codla rod 
Ocod ovk €yvw 6 Kdcpos dia 
THs coplas TOV Ocdv, evddKnoev 
6 Ocds Sia THs pwplas Tod 
Knpvypatos oGcat Tods TLOTEv- 
ovtas. ‘Emer yap of dp- 
Opwmo, AmooTpadevres THY Tpds 
Tov @cdv Oewplav, kal os ev 
Bv06 BvOicOevtTes KaTw ToOds 
dpOahpovs Exovres, Ev yeverer 
Kat Tois alcOntrots tov Oecov 


avatjrouv, avOpdmovs Ovytorvs 


NOTE 14. 


theirs, and from things on 
earth (I mean by bodily 
operations) that so those that 
would not know Him from 
His providence and superin- 
tendence over all, might at 
least know the Word of God 
when He was in a body, from 
the bodily operations which 
He thereby performed, and so 
by His means might know 
the Father. 

15. For as a good master, 
who is really careful of his 
scholars, will for certain con- 
descend to them and teach 
them by meaner ways, when 
they can receive no advantage 
by higher methods of instruc- 
tion; so does the Word of 
God do in this case, as 
Paul also says: For since 
through the wisdom of God the 
world by wisdom knew not 
God, it pleased God through 
the foolishness of preaching to 
save them that believe. For 
seeing men turned them- 
selves away from the contem- 
plation of God, and like men 
drowned in the deep fixed 
their eyes downwards, and 
sought God in the things 
that were made and that 
were sensible, forming to 
themselves dead men and de- 
mons for their gods; for that 


ST. ATHANASIUS ON 


kal dalyovas Eavtots Oeovs dva- 


TUTOvpEVOL’ TovTOU EvEKA 6 
irdvOpwmos kal Kowwds TavTwV 
Sor7p, 6 ToD Oeod Adyos Aap- 


/ a as ” 
Baver éavtd oGya, cat @s av- 


Opwros év dvOpamos avactpe- . 


\ X b) / / 
deta, Kal Tas alcOnoes TaVTOY 
TpocAapBavet, tva of év copa- 

a a 9S \ AN 
TLKOLS VOOUVTES EVAL TOV Meor, 
i i 
ap av 6 Kuptos epyderau dia 
TOV TOO odpatos epywyv, am 
+ Wage , \ ) He 
QuTaV voHnowot Ty adnOeapr, 
kat 6 avtod rov Llarépa doyi- 


cwvtat. “AvOpwro. dé dvtes 


kal avOpetiva TavTa voodrTes, 
ois éay emeBadov tas éavTdv 
b] / b) /, 
aicOnoets, EV TOVTOLS TpOTAQy- 
/ € x Sad \ 
Bavopevovs EavTous Ewpwv, Kal 
, / \ 
Tavtaxobev didackopevous TV 
/ 
adndeav. Etre yap els rip 
ktiow émrdénvTo, aA’ éwpwv 
avrijy éuodoyotcay tov Xpiotov 
Kvpiov* etre eis dvOpdmovs tv 
attov } didvota mpodrnddeica, 
aote tovTous Oeovs volte, 
b] a an a 
GAN’ Ex TOV Epywv Tod Swripos, 
OVYKPLVOVT@Y TE exeivu”, epal- 
veto €v avOpdrots udvos 6 SOrnp 
na c 
@cod “ids, ovk dvtwy map’ 


-] a 
€xeivols TolovTwy dTola mapa 


THE INCARNATION. 303 


cause the Lover of men and 
common Saviour of all, the 
Word of God, takes to Him- 
self a body and converses 
among men as a man, and 
takes upon Him the sensa- 
tions of all men; that so those 
who imagined the deity to 
belong to bodily things, might 
discover the truth from those 
very things that the Lord 
performed by bodily opera- 
tions, and by Him might 
come to the knowledge of the 
Father; and that as they were 
men and had all the notions 
of men in them, they, which 
way soever they turned their 
understanding, might thereby 
find themselves caught, and 
taught the truth on every 
side. or if they were sur- 
prised at the creation, they 
might see that that creation 
owned Christ the Lord; or 
if their mind was already pre- 
engaged about the affairs of 
men and supposed them to be 
gods, they might still, by the 
comparison of our Saviour’s 
works with theirs, discover 
that He is the only person 
among men who is the Sa- 
viour, the Son of God, by 
observing that those never 
did such works as were done 


by God the Word; or if they 


304: NOTE 


Ei 


dé kat els daipyovas joav mpo- 


a A / 
Tov Oeov Adyou yeyovev. 


AnOévtes, GAAG dpGvTes av- 
Tods SiwKkopevous 070 TOU Kupiov, 
éyivwoKkoy povov e€lvat TovTov 
Tov Tod @eod Adyov, kat ovK 
Ei 


VA 
dé Kal els vexpovs 70n TovTeY 


elvat Oeovs Tovs dSaipovas. 


a ¥. 
jv 6 vods KaTacyebeis, ware 
\ SS 
Opnokevew Tpwas, Kat Tos Tapa 
a 4 e 3 3 
mointais Aeyopevous Oeovs* GAA 
Cen XN a a bial A 
OpGvTes THY TOD Lwrhpos ava- 
€ , 3 hg > 
OTACLY, WMOAOYOUD EKELVOUS ELVAL 
Wevdels, Kal wdvoy tov Kupiov 
A A 
ddnOwvov tov Tod Ilarpds Adyop, 
\ \ n f / 
TOV Kal TOU Oavarov KupLEevorTa, 
Awa todto Kal yeyevynta, Kal 
avOpwtos edavn, kal aneOave, 
\ 3 / 3 , s 3 
kat aveotn, avBAvvas Kal eTl- 
OKLATAS TA TOV TOTOTE YEVvopE= 
vov avOpetav dia Tov ldlwov 
Epywv, tva drov 8 av aot Tpo- 
AnPbevres of AvOpwro1, ExeiOev 
> \ e) / \ / \ 
avTovs avayayn, Kat didaén 1Ov 
dAnOivov avtod Ilarépa, xa- 
Odamep kat aitds dnow "HAdov 
odoa. Kal evpely TO AToAWDAds. 
16. “Anaé yap els alc@nra 
mecovons THS dtavolas THv dpv- 


Opatov, tréBarev Eavtov bia 


14, 


were possessed in favour of 
demons, yet might they, by 
observing how they were 
driven away by the Lord, dis- 
cover that this person alone 
was the Word of God, and 
that the demons were not 
gods. Nay, in case their 
minds were so entangled with 
regard to the dead as to wor- 
ship the heroes and _ those 
whom the poets call gods, 
they might however, by see- 
ing the resurrection of our 
Saviour, acknowledge that 
they were falsities and that 
the Lord alone was the true 
Word of the Father, who is 
Lord over death itself also. 
On this account was it that 
He was begotten, and appeared 
as a man, and died, and rose 
again, that He might diminish 
and obscure the actions of all 
men that ever were by His 
own works ; that what prepos- 
sessions soever men were en- 
gaged in, He might free them 
from the same, and might 
teach them His true Father. 
As Himself says, I came to 
save and to find that which was 
lost. 


16. For seeing men’s under- 
standings were already fallen 
among sensible objects, the 


ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION, 305 


. 


a , 
sepatros mavjvat 6 Adyos, iva 
f 3 e Ni e€ bY 
pereveyxn els EavToy os av- 
x e) , \ x 
Opwros Tovs avOpeTovs, Kal TAS 
’ ts ) an b) e \ >) 
aicOjceis atr@p eis Eavrov atro- 
kAivyn, kal dourdv exelvous os 
avOpwTov attov épdvras, 61’ 
ot P, \ 
épywv, melon pn 


3 4 
avOpwmov j.0vor, 


av épyacerat 
@ ¢ \ 
eivat €éavTov 
GANG Kal Oeov kal Ocod adAn- 
Oivod Adyov kal sodiav. Todro 
d€ kai 6 IlatAos BovAduevos 
onpavat pnow' ’Ev ayann ép- 
piCopevor Kal TeOeyeAtwpéevor, 
iva e&toyvontre KxaradraBéobat 
\ ras n tna? Fo sD. f 
abv Tact Tots aylots, Tt TO TAG- 
Tos, Kal pqKos, Kal tos, kal 
Bd0os, yvOval te thy tmepBar- 
Aovoay THs yvaocews aydrany 
Tov XptoTod, iva TAnpwOijrTeE els 
o \ , a A. 
may TO TANnpwpa TOU Meov 
A X\ a / e \ 
TavTaxov yap tod Adyov éavTov 
¢ , Les \ / 
am\doavtos, Kal dvw, Kal Kato, 
\ / 
kal els TO Baddos, Kal eis TO 
t BA x ’ 8 7 
TAATOS* AVM MEV ELS TIV KTLCOLY, 
KdTw 6€ eis THY evavOpdtyow, 
A 
eis Bados b& eis TOV adny, «is 
mAdtos b€ els TOV Kdopov’ Ta 
/ Lon \ == , 
TaVvTa THS TEpt Ocov yvacews 
metAnpwtat. Ard dé TodTo ovde 


TapavTa Tapayevopuevos THY Ov- 


Word submitted Himself, to 
appear by a body; that as if 
He were a man, He might 
transfer men to Himself, and 
might bring their affections 
unto Himself, and might be- 
sides induce them to believe 
by what He did that He whom 
they saw as a man was not a 
mere man but also God, and 
the Word and Wisdom of the 
true God. This it was which 
Paul would be understood to 
mean when he said, That 
being rooted and grounded in 
love, ye may be able to com- 
prehend with all saints what 
as the breadth and length and 
height and depth, and to 
know the love of Christ which 
passeth knowledge, that ye 
may be filled with all the 
Julness of God. Accordingly 
does the Word shew Himself 
every way, above, and below, 
and in the depth, and in the 
breadth. Above by the crea- 
tion; below by the Incarna- 
tion ; in the depth, in the in- 
visible world; in the breadth, 
of the wide world, by re- 
plenishing all regions with 
the knowledge of God. And 
on this account it was that 
even when He came and 
offered a sacrifice for all, by 
delivering His body to death 


306 


4 
clay Thy tneép TavT@Y eTETEAEL, 
a “A / 
Tapadidovs TO Tua TO OavaTe, 
Qn Led \ 
kal GvioTGv avTo, apavn EavTov 
Py nN no \ 
d1a TovTod moGv* GAAG Kal eu- 
avy Eavrov 61a TovTov Kabiorn 
Siapevov év avtTe, Kal toatra 
a v \ “~ N & 
TEAGY Epya Kat onueia S.Ld0vs, & 
pynkéete GvOpwomov, GAa Oecdv 
Adyov avtov éyvépigov. 7Ap- 
gorepa yap édiravOpwrevero 6 
Larip Sia ths evavOpworjoews, 
Srt kal tov Odvarov e& Huav 
npavice, Kal dvexatvicev tas. 
Kat St1, ddavns Ov Kal ddparos, 
dua TOV epywy evepaive, Kal 
eyvepicev Eavtov etvar tov Ad- 
a \ \ fa) / 
yov tod Ilarpos, tov tod mavTos 
nyepova Kal Bacidéa... 
20. Thy pev ovv airlay ris 
” 3 ig eg n 
TOMATLKNS ETLPAVELAS AUTOV, 
€ as oe b] / Ae 
@S ody TE TV, EK pepous Kal ws 
¢€ nan > ‘é an 
nMEts NOvYNONMEVY VvoToal, TpoEl- 
v4 > > @ \ 
TOMEV, OTL OVK GAAOV YY TO 
pOaprov eis apOapclav pera- 
Badetv, «i un adrod Tod Sewripos 
na \ \ - in ms ’ + 
Tov Kal THY apxiv e€ ovK dvT@Y 
, ‘ v4 e \ b 
TETOLNKOTOS TA COAG’ Kal oOvK 
dAAov tv TO Kat elkdva TdAuw 
i / “a 3 lA > X\ 
avaxtioat Tots avOpwrois, ef py 


THs elkdvos Tov Llarpds* kai 


NOTE 14. 


and raising it up again, He 
did not hide Himself in ob- 
scurity thereby, but thereby 
made Himself conspicuous, 
abiding in Hini, and perform- 
ing such works, and shewing 
such signs, as declared Him to 
be no longer a man but God 
the Word. For our Saviour 
shewed His love to mankind 
two ways; both by His Incar- 
nation, whereby He took away 
death from us and renewed us ; 
and also that being concealed 
and invisible He manifested 
Himself by His works, and 
shewed Himself to be the 
Word of the Father, the 
Ruler and King of the uni- 
verse .. 


20. We indeed have already 
in part discoursed about the 
occasion of His bodily appear- 
ance; that is, as far as was 
convenient, and so far as we 
have, according to our ability, 
been able to apprehend of that 
matter; that it was not pos- 
sible for anyone else to change 
corruption to incorruption, 
but for the Saviour Himself, 
who made all things of no- 
thing; nor for anyone else to 
create that part of man again 
which was made after God’s 


ST. ATHANASIUS ON THE INCARNATION. 307 


ovk GAAov jv TO Ovytov dOa- 
vatov Tapacticat, €f pn THS 
atto(ajs ovens tod Kupiov 
€ a b] cal moe \ S 
nov “Inootd Xpiorov" kal ovK 
GAAov nv mept Tlarpos didaéa, 
Kat Thy €ldérdwv Kabatppoa 
Opnokelav, ed py TOO TA TavTA 
diakoopodvros Adyou Kat pdvou 
tov Ilarpés évtos Yiod povo- 
b \ XN 
Erevdn 8€ 


\ 
Kal TO dbetAopevov Tapa TaVvTOY 


yevots adnO.vod. 


” \ an 
€det Aowtoy ATrodoOjvar’ adel- 
Aero Kal TavTas, ws TpoEimTon, 
amodavety, 6’, 6 pdadtora Kal 
7 / . / e \ 
ETEOHNTE’ TOUTOV EVEKEV ETA 
\ \ fo , 9 na 3 
Tas TEpl THS OEedTnTOS avTod éx 
TOV Epyov amodelEes, 70n ol- 
b! Mee 4 ‘\ 7 
TOV Kal UTEP TAaVTV THY Ovatav 
> eal >) \ / x € 
avEpEpEV, GVTL TaVTwY TOV Eav- 
al \ / 
Tov vaov eis Oavaroy Tapad.oods, 
\ x / 3 
iva tTovs pey Tavtas dvuTev- 
Oivovs Kat édevOepous Tis ap- 
, e 
Toujon 


xaias  mTapaBdoews 


defEn 8€ EavTdv Kat Oavatov 
KpeltTova, andpyny THs Tov 
isd 3 / Ae an 

dAwY avacTacEws TO LOLlov TOMA 


apOaproy émderkvvpevos. 


image, but for that Image 
of the Father; nor for any 
one else to raise the mortal 
body immortal, but for Him 
that was Life itself, our Lord 
Jesus Christ: nor for any one 
else to teach men of the 
Father, and to pull down the 
worship of idols, but for that 
Word that disposed of all 
things, who was the only, 
and only-begotten, and true 
Son of the Father. But then, 
since the debt which all men 
owed was at length to be paid ; 
for He was obliged on all ac- 
counts, as we have shewed 
already, to die; for which 
cause principally it was that 
He came amongst us; for this 
cause, I say, it was now proper 
that, after He had given those 
demonstrations of His divinity 
by His works, He should offer 
Himself a sacrifice for all, and 
deliver up His temple to death 
for all, that so He might 
render all unobnoxious and 
free from the original trans- 
gression, and might shew that 
He was superior to death, by 
constituting His own body as 
incorruptible, and the first- 
fruits of the general resurrec- 
tion. 


308 


NOTE 15. 


NOTE 15, p. 160. 


The following is St. Hilary’s account of his conversion, at 


the commencement of his work De Trinitate. 


For the trans- 


lation the author is indebted to the Rev. R. 8. Grignon :— 


1. In otio et opulentia non 
est nisi beluina felicitas.—Cir- 
cumspicienti mihi proprium 
humanae vitae ac religiosum 
offiicium, quod vel a natura 
manans, vel a prudentum stu- 
dis profectum, dignum aliquid 
hoe concesso sibi ad intelli- 
gentiam divino munere obti- 
neret, multa quidem aderant 
quae opinione communi eflicere 
utilem atque optandam vitam 
videbantur, maximeque ea quae 
et nune et semper antea po- 
tissima inter mortales haben- 
tur, otium simul atque opu- 
lentia, quod aliud sine altero 
mali potius materies, quam 
boni esset occasio; quia et 
quies inops prope quoddam 
vitae ipsius intelligatur esse 
exsilium, et opulens inquietudo 
tanto plus calamitatis afferat, 
quanto majore indignitate his 
caretur, quae maxime et optata 
et quaesita sunt ad utendum. 


Atque haec quidem quamquam 


1. That happiness which con- 
sists in ease and abundance is 


but of a brutish kind. 


As I looked round for some 
employment of human life, 
proper to it and religious, 
either proceeding from nature, 
or derived from the studies of 
wise men, which should contain 
in itself something worthy of 
the divine giftofreason granted 
to man, I saw many things 
which, in common belief, 
seemed to make life useful 
and desirable, and most of all 
those things which are and 
ever have been held among 
men to be the most important, 
ease combined with plenty. 
Either of these, without the 
other, would be a source of 
evil, rather than an occasion 
of good; for rest without re- 
sources is felt to be a kind of 
exile from life itself, and 
wealth with disquietude brings 
with it so much the more of 
misfortune, the more reluctant 
men are to go without those 
things, the enjoyment of which 
has been the most desired and 


ST. HILARY’S 


in se summa atque optima 
vitae blandimenta contineant, 
tamen non multum videntur 
a consuetudine esse beluinae 
oblectationis aliena: quibus 
in saltuosa loca ac maxime pa- 
bulis laeta evagantibus, adsit 
et securitas a labore, et satietas 
ex pascuis. Nam si hic opti- 
mus et absolutissimus vitae 
humanae usus existimabitur, 
quiescere et abundare : necesse 
est hunc eumdem, secundum 
sui cujusque generis sensum, 
nobis atque universis rationis 
expertibus beluis esse com- 
munem ; quibus omnibus, na- 
tura ipsa in summa rerum 
copia et securitate famulante, 
sine cura habendi copia re- 
dundat utendi. 


2. Ad alia natos se senserunt 
plerique homines—Ac mihi 
plerique mortalium non ob 
aliam quidem causam hance 
ineptae ac beluinae vitae con- 
suetudinem et respuisse a se, 
et coarguisse in aliis videntur, 
quam quod, natura ipsa auc- 


tore impulsi, indignum ho- 


CON VERSION. 309 


sought for. And though these 
things contain in themselves 
the highest and best charms 
of life, still they seem not to 
differ much from the accus- 
tomed delights of the brutes, 
which, as they wander about 
the woods and in _ places 
abounding with pasture, pos- 
sess at once freedom from 
labour and ample sufficiency 
of food. For if we are to con- 
sider the best and most com- 
plete employment of human 
life to consist in being at rest 
and having plenty, we must 
necessarily have this in com- 
mon with all the irrational 
brutes, according in each case 
to the susceptibilities of the 
species. For they, being sup- 
pled by nature herself with 
the utmost plenty and freedom 
from care, have abundant facili- 
ties for enjoyment without the 
trouble of acquisition. 


2 Mankind in general have 
SJelt themselves born for other 
objects. 


The reason why most men 
have rejected for themselves, 
and blamed in others, this 
senseless and brutish mode of 
life, seems to me to be that, 
under the guidance of nature 
herself, they have considered 


310 


mine esse existimaverunt, in 
officium se ventris tantum et 
inertiae natos arbitrari; et in 
hance vitam non ob aliqua prae- 
clari facinoris aut bonae artis 
studia esse deductos, aut hane 
ipsam vitam non ad aliquem 
profectum esse aeternitatis in- 
dultam quam profecto non 
ambigeretur munus Dei non 
esse reputandum, cum tantis 
afflictata angoribus, et tot 
molestiis impedita, sese ipsa 
atque intra se a pueritiae ig- 
noratione usque ad senectutis 
deliramenta consumeret: et 
idcirco ad aliquas se patientiae 
et continentiae et placabili- 
tatis virtutes et doctrina et 
opere transtulisse, quod bene 
agere atque intelligere, id 
demum bene vivere esse opi- 
nabantur: vitam autem non 
ad mortem tantum ab immor- 
tali Deo tribui existimandam : 
cum boni largitoris non esse 
intelligeretur, vivendi jucun- 
dissimum sensum ad tristissi- 
mum metum tribuisse mori- 
endi. 


NOTE 15. 


it a thing unworthy of human 
nature to look on themselves 
as born only for the service 
of the belly and of sloth, and 
not brought into this life for 
the pursuit of noble doing or 
high acquirement ; or to think 
that this life itself had been 
granted them without any 
profit as regards eternity. For 
there could certainly be no 
question that life ought not 
to be considered a gift of God, 
if, harassed as it 1s with so 
many troubles, and beset with 
so many vexations, it were 
to wear itself away within 
itself from ignorant boyhood 
to doting old age, And they 
seem to have applied them- 
selves, both in teaching and 
in practice, to certain virtues 
of patience, and continence, 
and placability, for this reason, 
that they held a good life 
to consist in good actions 
and right understanding ; and 
thought that life was not to 
be regarded as given us by 
the immortal God only that 
it might end in death. For 
they saw that it was not the 
act of a liberal benefactor, to 
have imparted to us the de- 
lightful sensation of living, 
only withaviewto the grievous 
fear of dying. 


ST. HILARY’S CONVERSION. 


3. In Dei cognitionem ardet 
Milarius.—Et quamquam non 
ineptam hance eorum esse sen- 
tentiam atque inutilem exis- 
timarem, conscientiam ab 
omni culpa liberam conser- 
vare, et omnes humanae vitae 
molestias vel providere pru- 
denter, vel vitare consulte, vel 
ferre patienter ; tamen hi ipsi 
non satis mihi idonei ad bene 
beateque vivendum auctores 
videbantur, communia_ tan- 
tum et convenientia humano 
sensui doctrinarum praecepta 
statuentes: quae cum non. 


intelligere beluinum  esset, 
intellecta tamen non agere, 
ultra beluinae immanitatis esse 
Festinabat 


autem animus, non haec tan- 


rabiem videretur. 
tummodo agere, quae non 
egisse, et criminum  esset 
plenum et dolorum: sed hune 
tanti muneris Deum paren- 
temque cognoscere, cul se 
totum ipse deberet, cui famu- 
lans nobilitandum se existi- 
mabat, ad quem omnem spel 
suae opinionem referret, in 
cujus bonitate inter tantas 


praesentium negotiorum cala- 


Sli 


3. Milarius burns for the 
knowledge of God. 

While I considered this 
teaching of theirs as neither 
foolish nor useless—to keep 
the conscience free from all 
fault, and either to obviate by 
foresight, or avoid with judg- 
ment, or bear with patience 
all the ills of human life, still 
these men did not appear to 
me sufficiently capable guides 
to a good and happy life. 
For they laid down only — 
ordinary precepts, and such 
as agreed with the common 
sense of mankind; such as it 
were brutish not to under- 
stand; while to understand 
them and yet not act upon 
them, would be beyond the 
highest degree of brutish sense- 
lessness, But my soul felt 
the impulse, not only to do 
those things, the not doing 
of which would be full at 
once of reproach and of suffer- 
ing, but to learn to know 
that most bountiful God and. 
father, to whom it owed its 
own whole being, in serving 
whom it believed that it would 
be exalted, to whom it re- 
ferred every thought of hope, 
in whose goodness it could 
rest, as in a most safe and 
friendly harbour, among all 


312 


mitates, tanquam  tutissimo 
sibi portu familiarique requi- 
esceret. Ad hune igitur vel 
intelligendum vel cognoscen- 
dum studio flagrantissimo 
animus accendebatur, 

4. Variae antiquorum de Deo 
opiniones. Hilario non proban- 
tur, pro certo habente Deum 
non esse nisi unum.—Namque 
plures eorum numerosas in- 
certorum deorum familias in- 
troducebant: et virilem et 
muliebrem sexum in divinis 
naturis agere existimantes, 
ortus ac successiones ex dliis 
deorum asserebant. Alu ma- 
jores ac minores et differentes 
pro potestate deos praedica- 
bant. 


nino Deum esse affirmantes, 


Nonnulli nullum om- 


eam tantum quae fortuitis 
motibus atque concursibus in 
aliquid existeret, naturam ve- 
nerabantur. Plerique vero 
Deum quidem esse opinione 
publica loquebantur, sed hune 
eumdem incuriosum rerum 
humanarum ac negligentem 
pronunciabant. Aliqui autem 
ipsas illas creaturarum cor- 


poreas conspicabilesque formas 


NOTE 15. 


the great troubles of the 
present state of things. My 
soul then was inflamed with 
the most burning desire either 
to understand, or to attain 
the knowledge of, this God. 


4. Various opinions of the 
ancients concerning God. 
Milarius does not approve of 
them, holding for certain that 
there is no God but one. 

For many of them brought 
in numerous families of un- 
certain gods, and, thinking 
that sex, male and female, 
could act in divine natures, 
asserted the origin and sue- 
cession of gods from gods. 
Others taught of the gods as 
greater and lesser, and of dif- 
ferent degrees of power. Some, 
affirming that there was no 
God at all, adored only that 
nature which came forth into 
some form by fortuitous move- 
ments andcombinations. Most 
of them however, in accord- 
ance with the general opinion, 
spoke indeed of God as exist- 
ing, but pronounced Him to 
be careless and indifferent 
about human affairs. Some 
too adored the bodily and 
visible forms themselves of 
creatures, in the earthly and 
celestial elements. Lastly, 


ST. HILARY’S CONVERSION. 


in elementis terrenis et coeles- 
tibus adorabant. Postremo 
quidam in simulacris homi- 
num, pecudum, ferarum, volu- 
crum, serpentum, deos suos 
collocabant, et universitatis 
Dominum atque infinitatis 
parentem intra angustias me- 
tallorum et lapidum et sti- 
pitum coartabant. Dignumque 
jam non erat, auctores eos ve- 
ritatis existere, qui ridicula et 
foeda et irreligiosa sectantes, 
ipsis illis inanissimarum sen- 
tentiarum suarum opinionibus 
dissiderent. Sed inter haec 
animus sollicitus, utili ac ne- 
cessaria ad cognitionem Do- 
mini sui via nitens, cum neque 
incuriam Deo rerum a se 
conditarum dignam esse arbi- 
traretur, neque naturae potenti 
atque incorruptae competere 
sexus deorum, et successiones 
satorum atque ortorum intel- 
ligeret: porro autem divinum 
et aeternum nihil nisi unum 
esse et indifferens pro certo 
habebat, quia id quod sibi ad 
id quod esset auctor esset, nihil 
necesse est extra se quod sui 
esset praestantius reliquisset ; 


313 


some placed their gods in the 
likenesses of men, of cattle, 
of wild beasts, of birds, or of 
serpents, and confined the 
Lord of the universe and the 
father of infinity within the 
narrow limits of metals, stones, 
and stocks. And it was not 
worthy of belief, that men 
could be authorities respecting 
truth, who, while following 
ridiculous and degraded and 
impious ideas, even disagreed 
among themselves in the very 
conclusions of their senseless 
opinions. My soul, troubled 
amid these thoughts, and 
striving after the way useful 
and necessary for attaining 
the knowledge of its Lord— 
while it judged it unworthy 
of God to be careless about 
the things created by himself, 
and while it perceived that 
sex in gods and successions 
of parents and offspring were 
discordant with a powerful 
and imperishable nature — 
further held it for certain that 
the Divine and Eternal could 
not but be one and undivided ; 
since that, which was the 
author of its own being, could 
necessarily have left without 
it nothing more excellent than 
itself; and thus that omni- 
potence and eternity could 


314 


atque ita omnipotentiam ae- 
ternitatemque non nisi penes 
unum esse ; quia neque in om- 
nipotentia validius infirmi- 
usque, neque in aeternitate 
posterius anteriusve congru- 
eret: in Deo autem nihil nisi 
aeternum potensque esse vene- 
randum. 

5. EL Scripturis discit quid 
sit Deus: quod aeternus.— 
Haec igitur, multaque alia 
ejusmodi cum animo reputans, 
- incidi in eos libros quos a 
Moyse atque a_ prophetis 
scriptos esse Hebraeorum re- 
ligio tradebat: in quibus ipso 
~ ereatore Deo testante de se, 
haec ita continebantur: yo 
sum qui sum (Exod. ii. 14); 
et rursum: Haee dices Jiliis 
Israel. Misit me ad vos is qua 
est (Ibidem), Admiratus sum 
plane tam absolutam de Deo 
significationem, quae naturae 
divinae incomprehensibilem 
cognitionem aptissimo ad in- 
telligentiam humanam ser- 
mone loqueretur. Non enim 
aliud proprium magis Deo, 
quam esse, intelligitur; quia 
id ipsum quod est, neque de- 


NOTE 15. 


only be the properties of One, 
since the terms of ‘ stronger ’ 
and ‘weaker’ were incon- 
sistent with omnipotence, and 
those of ‘ latter’ and ‘former’ 
with eternity, while in God 
nothing was to be adored but 
that which was all-powerful 
and eternal. 


5. He learns from the Scrip- 
tures what God is: that He is 
eternal. 

While I was thinking over 
these and many other like 
things, I fell in with those 
books which the religion of 
the Hebrews has handed down 
as written by Moses and the 
prophets. In these were con- 
tained the following words, 
God the Creator himself bear- 
ing witness of himself :— 
‘I am that Tam;’ and again, 
‘Thus shalt thou say unto the 
children of Israel, I AM hath 
sent me unto you’ (Exod. 1. 
14). I greatly marvelled at 
so complete a definition of 
God, which spoke of the in- 
comprehensible knowledge of 
the Divine nature in terms 
most suitable to human in- 
telligence. For we perceive 
that there is no more special 
property of God than to be; 
since this very fact, that He 


ST. HILARY’S CONVERSION. - 815 


sinentis est aliquando, neque 
coepti; sed id quod cum in- 
corruptae beatitudinis potes- 
tate perpetuum est non potuit 
aut poterit aliquando non 
esse; quia divinum omne 
neque abolitione neque exordio 
obnoxium est. Et cum in nullo 
a se Dei desit aeternitas; digne 
hoe solum, quod esset, ad pro- 
testationem incorruptae suae 


aeternitatis ostendit. 


6. Deus infinitus ; mente capi 
nequit.— Ht ad hane quidem 
infinitatis significationem sa- 
tisfecisse sermo dicentis: yo 
sum qui sum, videbatur: sed 
maenificentiae et virtutis suae 
erat a nobis opus intelligen- 
dum. Namque cum esse el 
proprium esset, qui manens 
semper non etiam aliquando 
coepisset : aeterni et incorrupti 
Dei dignus de se hic rursum 
auditus est sermo: Qui tenet 
coelum palma, et terram pugillo, 
(Esa, xl. 12); et rursum: 
Coelum mihi thronus est, terra 


autem scabellum pedum meorum. 


is, is the characteristic of one 
who will neither ever come to 
an end, nor has ever had a 
beginning; but that, which 
is everlasting with the power 
of imperishable blessedness, 
never has been able, ard 
never will be able, not to be; 
since all that is divine is sub- 
ject neither to destruction nor 
to beginning. And, since the 
eternity of God is in nothing 
wanting to itself, He worthily 
puts forth this fact, that He 
is, In order to bear witness of 
His own imperishable eter- 
nity. 

6. God is infinite ; He can- 
not be comprehended by the 
mind. 

As far as regards this de- 
celaration of the eternity of 
God, His words, when He 
says, ‘I am that I am,’ ap- 
peared to suffice; but the 
work of His greatness and 
power required to be under- 
stood by me. For while to 
be was the property of Him 
who, ever abiding, had also 
never had a beginning, I 
heard again this worthy say- 
ine of the eternal and im- 
perishable God concerning 
himself :—‘ Who hath meted 
out heaven with the span, 
and comprehended the dust of 


316 


Quam domum mihi aedificabitis, 
aut quis locus erit requietionis 
meae ’ Nonne manus mea fecit 
et 2.) 


Universitas coeli palma Dei 


haec? (Esa, \xvi. I. 


tenetur, et universitas terrae 
pugillo coneluditur. Sermo 
autem Dei, etiamsi ad opinio- 
nem religiosae intelligentiae 
proficit plus, tamen significa- 
tionis introspectus sensu con- 
tinet, quam exceptus auditu 
(Vide Augustin. epist. CXXxvil. 
Nam 


conclusum palma coelum rur- 


ad Volusian., n. 3). 


sum Deo thronus est; et terra, 
quae pugillo continetur, eadem 
et scabellum pedum ejus est: 
ne in throno et scabello, se- 
eundum habitum considentis, 
protensio speciei corporeae 
possit intelligi, cum id quod 
sibi thronus et scabellum est, 
rursum ipsa illa infinitas po- 
tens palma ac pugillo appre- 
hendente concluderet ; sed ut 
in his cunctis originibus crea- 
turarum Deus intra extraque, 
et supereminens et internus, 
id est, cireumfusus et infusus 
in omnia nosceretur, cum et 
palma pugillusque continens 


NOTE 15. 


the earth ina measure ;” and 
again, ‘The heaven is my 
throne, and the earth is my 
footstool: where is the house 
that ye build unto me? and 
where is the place of my rest ? 
For all those things hath my 
hand made.’ The whole hea- 
ven is held in the span of 
God, and the whole earth is 
comprehended in His mea- 
sure. Now while this saying 
of God is profitable to the 
contemplation of religious in- 
telligence, still it contains 
more meaning, when looked 
into by the understanding, 
than when only received by 
the hearing. Jor heaven, 
which is meted out with the 
span of God, is again His 
throne, and the earth, which 
is comprehended in His mea- 
sure, 1s also His footstool ; 
not that we should under- 
stand that there was the put- 
ting forth of any bodily form 
on the throne and footstool, 
after the fashion of one sit- 
ting, since that infinite Power 
encloses in its span and mea- 
sure that very thing which, 
on the other hand, is its throne 
and footstool ; but that in all 
these examples of created 
things God should be recog- 
nised as being within and 


ST. HILARY’S 


potestatem naturae exterioris 
ostenderet ; ac thronus et sca- 
bellum substrata esse ut in- 
terno exteriora monstraret, 
cum exteriora sua interior 
insidens, ipse rursum exterior 
interna concluderet ; atque 
ita totus ipse intra extraque 
se continens (supple. cuncta), 
neque infinitus abesset a 
cunctis, neque cuncta ei qui 
infinitus est non inessent. His 
igitur religiosissimis de Deo 
opinionibus veri studio de- 
tentus animus delectabatur. 
Neque enim aliud quid dignum 
esse Deo arbitrabatur, quam 
ita eum ultra intelligentias 
rerum esse, ut in quantum 
se ad aliquem praesumptae 
licet opinionis modum mens 
infinita protenderet, in tan- 
tum omnem persequentis se 
naturae infinitatem infinitas 
immoderatae aeternitatis ex- 
cederet. Quod cum a nobis 
pie intelligeretur, tamen a 
propheta haec ita dicente 
manifeste confirmabatur : Quo 
abibo a spiritu tuo, aut a facie 
tua quo fugiam? St adscend- 


ero im coelum, tu illic es; si 


CONVERSION. 


317 


without, both extending be- 
yond and dwelling within, 
that is, spread around all 
things and infused into all 
things; while at the same 
time the span and the mea- 
sure, which contain, declare 
His power over external na- 
ture, and by the throne and 
footstool it is shewn that 
external things are spread 
under Him, as being within 
them; so that, sitting upon 
outward things, as if within 
them, He himself again en- 
closes internal things, as if 
outside of them; and thus, 
containing in His whole being 
all things within and outside 
of himself, He, the infinite 
one, is present in all things, 
while all things are in Him 
who is infinite. My soul 
then, taken hold of by an 
earnest desire for the truth, 
was delighting itself with 
these most pious ideas con- 
cerning God; and it judged 
no other view of God to be 
a worthy one, than that He 
so entirely surpasses all com- 
prehension, that, as far as the 
infinite Mind extends itself 
to any measure even of arbi- 
trary acceptation, so far does 
the infinity of a measureless 
eternity exceed all infinity of 


318 


descendero in infernum, et rbi 
ades, Sit sumpsero pennas meas 
ante lucem et habitavero im 
postremis maris, etenim iltuc 
manus tua deducet me, et tenebrt 
me dextera tua (Psal. cxxxviil. 
4. et seqg.). Nullus sine Deo, 
neque ullus non in Deo locus 
est. In coelis est, in inferno 
Inest 
Ita 
cum habet atque habetur ; 


est, ultra maria est. 


interior, excedit exterior. 


neque in aliquo ipse, neque 


non in omnibus est. 


4, Deus pulcherrimus. Quia 
caeterarum rerum speciem sv 
mon verbo certe sensu assequi- 
mur ; Dei autem speciem neutro 
modo.—Quamquam igitur op- 
timae hujus atque inexpli- 
cabilis intelligentiae sensu 


animus gauderet, quod hane 


NOTE 15. 


any nature which seeks to 
attain to it. While I piously 
perceived this truth, it was 
yet more clearly confirmed by 
the following words of the 
prophet :—‘ Whither shall I 
gofrom thy Spirit? or whither 
shall I flee from thy presence? 
If I ascend up into heaven, 
thou art there ; if I make my 
bed in hell, behold, thou art 
there. If I take the wings 
of the morning, and dwell in 
the uttermost parts of the sea, 
even there shall thy hand lead 
me, and thy right hand shall 
hold me’ (Ps. exxxix. 7-10). 
There is no place without 
God, nor any place that is 
not in God. He isin heaven ; 
He isin hell; He is beyond 
the sea. He is in them, as 
being within; He goes be- 
yond them, as being without. 
Thus, while He possesses, He 
is also possessed, and is neither 
himself in anything, nor other- 
wise than in all things. 

4. God is most beautiful. 
For the beauty of alt other 
things we can reach to, ff not 
im word, yet certainly in mind, 
but the beauty of God im neither 
WAY: 

Although then my soul was 
rejoicing in the perception of 
this excellent and inexplicable 


ST. HILARY’S CONVERSION, 


in parente suo et creatore 
immensae aeternitatis infini- 
tatem veneraretur; tamen 
studio adhuc intentiore ipsam 
illam infiniti et aeterni Do- 
mini sui speciem quaerebat, 
ut Incireumscriptam immen- 
sitatem in aliquo pulchrae 
intelligentiae esse opinaretur 
ornatu. In quibus cum reli- 
giosa mens intra imbecillitatis 
suae concluderetur errorem, 
hune de Deo pulcherrimae 
sententiae modum propheticis 
vocibus apprehendit : De mag- 
nitudine enim operum et pul- 
chritudiné creaturarum, conse- 
guenter generationum conditor 
conspicitur (Sap. Xill. 5, sec. 
LXX.). 


in maximis est, et pulcherri- 


Magnorum creator 


morum conditor in pulcher- 
rimis est. Et cum sensum 
ipsum egrediatur operatio, 
omnem tamen sensum longe 
necesse est excedat operator. 
Pulchrum itaque  coelum, 
aether, terra, maria, et uni- 
versitas omnis est, quae ex 
ornatu suo, ut etiam Graecis 
placet, digne xéopos, id est 


mundus nuncupari videtur, 


319 


view that it adored in its 
father and creator the infinity 
of an unmeasured eternity, 
still it was seeking with yet 
more earnest zeal the very 
form of its infinite and eternal 
Lord, as believing that bound- 
less infinity was to be found 
in some attire of fair intelli- 
gence. While thus my piously 
disposed mind was shut up in 
the wanderings of its own 
weakness, it laid hold of an 
admirable statement concern- 
ing God in the following form 
in the words of the pro- 
phet :—‘ For by the greatness 
and beauty of the creatures 
proportionably the maker of 
them is seen’ (Wisdom xiii. 
5). The. creator of great 
things is among the greatest, 
and the maker of beautiful 
things is among the most 
beautiful. And since the 
work goes beyond the limits 
of our understanding, the 
worker must necessarily far 
exceed all understanding. 
Thus the heavens are beau- 
tiful, the sky, the earth, the 
seas, and the whole universe, 
which, on account of. its 
adornment, is properly called, 
as the Greeks say, xdoyos, 
that is, the Order of things. 
But if this very beauty of 


3.0 


Sed si hance ipsam rerum pul- 
chritudinem ita sensus natu- 
rali metitur instinctu, ut etiam 
in quarumdam volucrum ac 
pecudum accidit specie, ut 
dum infra sententiam sermo 
est, sensus tamen id ipsum 
non 


intelligens eloquatur ; 


quod tamen rursum, dum 
sermo omnis ex sensu _ est, 
sensus sibi ipse loquatur in- 
telligens: nonne hujus ipsius 
pulchritudinis Dominum ne- 
cesse est totius pulchritudinis 
esse pulcherrimum intelligi ; 
ut cum aeterni ornatus sui 
species sensum intelligentiae 
omnis 


effugiat, opinionem 


tamen intelligentiae sensus 
At- 


que ita pulcherrimus Deus est 


non relinquat ornatus ? 


confitendus: ut neque intra 
sententiam sit intelligendi, 
neque extra intelligentiam 
sentiendi. 

8. Deus intelligentiam ex- 
cedens fide attingendus.—His 
itaque piae opinionis atque 
doctrinae studiis animus im- 
butus, in secessu quodam ac 
specula pulcherrimae hujus 


sententiae requiescebat, non 


NOTE 15. 


things is measured by our 
minds, through a natural in- 
stinct —as happens in the 
case of certain kinds of birds 
and beasts—so that, while 
our speech falls below our 
thoughts, our mind, though 
it may understand, yet cannot 
express that very thing which, 
on the other hand, while all 
speech proceeds from thought, 
the understanding mindutters 
to itself ; if this is so, must we 
not see that the Lord of this 
beautyis himself'the most beau- 
tiful of all beautiful things ? 
so that, while the form of 
His eternal adornment goes 
beyond the perception of all 
intelligence, yet that adorn- 
ment does not withdraw it- 
self from the view of the per- 
ception of intelligence. And 
thus we must confess God to 
be most beautiful, in such 
wise that He is neither within 
the comprehension of under- 
standing, nor beyond the 
understanding of sense. 

8. God, surpassing all un- 
derstanding, 1s to be reached 
by faith. 

My soul then, filled with 
attachment to this pious be- 
lief and doctrine, was resting 
in a sort of retirement and in 
contemplation of these ex- 


ST. HILARY’S 


sibi relictum quidquam aliud 
a natura sua intelligens, in 
quo majus officium praestare 
Conditori suo minusve posset, 
quam ut tantum eum esse in- 
telligeret, quantus et intelligi 
non potest, et potest credi: 
dum intelligentiam et fides 
sibi necessariae religionis as- 
sumit, et infinitas aeternae 
potestatis excedit. 

9. Ln wmmortaltatis spem 
assurgit Hilarwus. Hane ratio 
ipsa ei suadet. Suberat autem 
omnibus his naturalis adhue 
sensus, ut pietatis professio- 
nem spes aliqua incorruptae 
beatitudinis aleret, quam 
sancta de Deo opinio et boni 
mores quodam victricis mili- 
tiae stipendio mererentur. 
Neque enim fructus aliquis 
esset bene de Deo opinari: 
cum omnem sensum mors 
perimeret, et occasus quidam 
naturae deficientis aboleret. 
Porro autem non esse hoe 
dignum Deo ratio ipsa sua- 
debat, deduxisse eum in hance 
participem consilii pruden- 
tiaeque vitam hominem sub 


defectione vivendi et aeter- 


CONVERSION. 


321 


cellent ideas, perceiving that 
nothing else was left to it by 
its own nature, in which it 
could offer to its Creator 
greater or less service, than 
that it should understand 
Him to be so great that His 
greatness cannot be under- 
stood, but can be believed ; 
necessary religious faith taking 
understanding to itself, and 
the infinity of eternal power 
surpassing understanding. 

g. Hilarius rises to the hope 
of immortality. Reason itself 
persuades him of this. 5 

Now under all this lay the 
natural feeling that the pro- 
fession of piety should be 
nourished by some hope of 
imperishable blessedness, to 
be earned, as pay is by suc- 
cessful military service, by 
holy views concerning God 
and by good morals. For 
there would be no profit in 
thinking rightly concerning 
God, if all feeling were to be 
done away with by death, and 
put an end to by the sinking 
of failing nature. Nay further, 
reason itself taught that it 
was not a thing worthy of 
God, to have brought man 
into this life, capable as it is 
of judgment and foresight, 
with the purpose that life 


322 

nitate moriendi; ut in id 
tantum non exsistens substi- 
tueretur, ne substitutus ex- 
isteret; cum constitutionis 
nostrae ea sola esse ratio in- 
telligeretur, ut quod non esset 
esse coepisset, non ut quod 


coepisset esse non esset. 


10. Spem ac Det notitiam 
auget Joannis Hvangelium.— 
Fatigabatur autem animus, 
partim suo, partim corporis 
metu. Quicum et constantem 
sententiam suam pia de Deo 
professione retineret, et solli- 
citam de se atque hoc occasuro 
secum, ut putabat, habitaculo 
suo curam recepisset, post cog- 
nitionem legis ac prophetarum 
istius modi quoque doctrinae 
evangelicae atque apostolicae 
instituta cognoseit: In prin- 
cipio erat Verbum, et Verbum 
erat apud Deum, et Deus erat 
Verbum. Hoc erat in principio 
apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum 
facta sunt, et sine rpso factum 
Quod factum est in 
eo, vita est, et vita erat lux 


est nihil. 


hominum, et lua lucet in tene- 


NOTE 15. 


should come to an end, and 
death last for ever; so that 
he would have been brought 
from non-existence into being, 
only that, when brought into 
being, he might cease to be. 
For we can understand that 
the sole purpose of our crea- 
tion was, that that which 
was not should begin to be; 
not that that which had 
begun should cease to be. 

10. The Gospel of John 
mmcreases his hope and his 
knowledge of God. 

My soul however was 
harassed by fears, partly for 
itself, partly for the body. 
But whilst—still holding 
steadily to its belief, and to 
a pious confession concerning 
God—it was anxiously con- 
cerned about itself, and about 
that its dwelling-place which, 
as it thought, was to perish 
with it; after becoming ac- 
quainted with the law and the 
prophets, it also became ac- 
quainted in this manner with 
the teachings of evangelical 
and apostolic doctrine :—‘ In 
the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God. 
The same was in the be- 
ginning with God. All things 
were made by Him, and 


ST. HILARY’S 


bris, et tenebrae eam non com= 
prehenderunt. Fuit homo missus 
a Deo, cut nomen erat Joannes. 
Hic venit in testimonium, ut 
testumonium perhiberet de lu- 
mine. Non erat ille lux, sed 
ut testimonium perhiberet de 
lumine. rat lux vera, quae 
illuminat omnem hominem ve- 
nientem in hune mundum. In 
mundo erat, et mundus per eum 
Jactus est, et mundus eum non 
cognovit. In sua venit, et sur 
eum non receperunt.  Quotquot 
autem receperunt eum, dedit eis 
potestatem filios Det fieri, vis 
gui credunt im nomine ejus ; 
gui non ex sanguine, neque ew 
voluntate vuri, neque ex volun- 
tate carnis, sed ex Deo nati 
Et Verbum caro factum 
et 


vulimus gloriam ejus, gloriam 


sunt. 
est et habitavit wm nobis: 


tamquam unigenitt a Patre, 
plenum gratia et Veritate (Joan. 
i, 1-14). Proficit mens ultra 
naturales sensus intelligen- 
tiam, et plus de Deo quam 
opinabatur edocetur. Crea- 
torem enim suum Deum ex 
Deo discit: Verbum Deum, 


et apud Deum in principio 


CONVERSION. 323 


without Him was not any- 
thing made that was made. 
In Him was life; and the life 
was the light of men. And 
the light shineth in darkness ; 
and the darkness compre- 
hended it not. ‘There was a 
man sent from God, whose 
name was John. The same 
eame for a witness, to bear 
witness of the Light, that all 
men through him might be- 
lieve. He was not that Light, 
but was sent to bear witness 
of that Light. That was the 
true Light, which lghteth 
every man that cometh into 
the world. He was in the 
world,and the world was made 
by Him, and the world knew 
Him not. Hecame unto His 
own, and His own received 
Him not. But as many as 
received Him, to them gave 
He power to become the sons 
of God, even to them that 
believe on His name; which 
were born, not of blood, nor 
of the will of the flesh, nor of 
the will of man, but of God. 
And the Word was made flesh, 
and dwelt among us, (and we 
beheld His glory, the glory as 
of the only begotten of the 
Father,) full of grace and 
truth’ (John i. 1-14). The 
mind advances beyond the 


pe 


324 


esse audit. Mundi lumen in 
mundo manens et a mundo 
non recognitum  intelligit. 
Venientem quoque in sua a 
suis non receptum; recipi- 
entes autem sub fidei suae 
merito in Dei filios profecisse 
cognoscit; non ex complexu 
carnis, neque ex conceptu 
sanguinis, neque ex corporum 
voluntate, sed ex Deo natos. 
Deinde (supple. 


Verbum carnem factum, et 


cognoscit) 


habitasse in nobis, et gloriam 
conspectam ejus, quae tam- 
quam unici a patre, sit per- 


fecta cum gratia et veritate. 


11. Milius Dei Deus. Pilros 
Dei fieri potestas est, non ne- 
cessitas. Filius Dew factus 
homo, ut homo fieret filius Det. 
Christus verus Deus et verus 
homo.—Hic jam mens trepida 
et anxia plus spei invenit 
quam expectabat. Ac primum 
ad cognitionem Dei Patris 


imbuitur. Et quod antea de 


NOTE 15. 


perceptions of natural sense, 
and is taught more concern- 
ing God than it thought. It 
learns that its Creator is God 
of God; it hears that the Word 
is God, and was with God in 
the beginning; it perceives the 
Light of the world dwelling in 
the world, and not known by 
the world ; coming to His own, 
and not received by His own; 
it learns that those who re- 
ceived Him were, through the 
merits of their faith, promoted 
to be the sons of God ; born, 
not of a fleshly embrace, nor 
of conception by blood, nor of 
the will of the body, but of 
God. Furthermore it learns 
that the Word was made flesh, 
and dwelt among us, and that 
His glory was beheld, which, 
as being that of the only be- 
gotten of the Father, was per- 
fected with grace and truth. 

1t. Lhe Son of God is God. 
There 1s a power to become sons 
of God, not a necessity. The 
Son of God was made man, that 
man might be made the son of 
God. Christ is very God and 
very Man. 

The alarmed and anxious 
mind finds now more hope 
than it looked for. And first 
it is taught to know God as a 
father. And what it formerly 


ST. HILARY’S CONVERSION. 


Creatoris sui aeternitate et 
infinitate et specie naturali 
sensu opinabatur, hic nunc 
proprium esse etiam unige- 
nito Deo accipit: non in deos 
fidem laxans, quia ex Deo 
Deum audit; non ad naturae 
diversitatem in Deum ex Deo 
decedens, quia plenum gratia 
et veritate Deum ex Deo 
discit ; neque praeposterum 
ex Deo Deum sentiens, quia 
in principio apud Deum esse 
Deum comperit. Rarissimam 
deinde hujus salutaris cog- 
nitionis fidem esse, sed maxi- 
mum praemium noscit: quia 
et sui non receperunt, et 
recipientes in filios Dei aucti 
sunt, non ortu carnis sed fidei. 
Esse autem filios Dei, non 
necessitatem esse sed potes- 
tatem: quia proposito uni- 
versis Dei munere, non natura 
sed 


conse= 


gignentium  afferatur, 


voluntas praemium 
quatur. Ac ne idipsum, quod 
unicuique esse Dei filio fit 
potestas, in aliquo infirmi- 
tatem fidei trepidae impediret ; 
difficultatem 


aegerrime speretur, quod et 


quia per sul 


325 


believed by natural sense con- 
cerning the eternity and in- 
finity and beauty of its 
Creator, this it now receives 
as being the property also of 
the only begotten God. It 
does not widen its faith, so as 
to believe in more gods than 
one, because it hears of ‘ God 
from God;’ it does not pass 
from God to God, as believing 
in a difference of nature, be- 
cause it learns that ‘ God from 
God’ is full of grace and 
truth ; nor does it think of 
‘God from God’ as earlier and 
later, because it finds that 
God was in the beginning 
with God. It next learns 
that the belief of this saving 
knowledge is very rare, but 
brings with it the highest 
reward; because, while He 
was not received by His own, 
those who did receive Him 
were advanced to be sons of 
God, not by the birth of flesh, 
but of faith. Further, there 
is a power, not a necessity, to 
become sons of God; since, 
while the gift of God is set 
before, it is not natural parent- 
age which is concerned, but 
willingness obtains the re- 
ward. And lest the very fact 
that power is given to every 
man to be a son of God, 


326 


magis optatur et minus cre- 
ditur : 
factum est, ut per Deum Ver- 


Verbum Deus caro 


bum carnem factum caro pro- 
ficeret in Deum Verbum. Ac 
ne Verbum caro factum aut 
aliquid aliud esset quam Deus 
Verbum, aut non nostri cor- 
poris caro esset, habitavit in 
nobis: ut dum habitat, non 
alius quam Deus maneret ; 
dum autem habitat in nobis, 
non aliud quam nostrae carnis 
Deus caro factus esset; per 
dignationem assumptae carnis 
non inops suorum, quia tam- 
quam unigenitus a Patre ple- 
nus gratiae et veritatis, et in 
suis perfectus sit, et verus in 
nostris. 


12. Diwina non capit nisi 
jides. — Hane itaque divini 
sacramenti doctrinam mens 
laeta suscepit, in Deum pro- 
ficiens per carnem, et in 
novam nativitatem per fidem 
vocata, et ad coelestem re- 
generationem obtinendam po- 


testati suae permissa, curam 


NOTE 15. 


should hinder any one’s weak 
and trembling faith—for on 
account of its difficulty wehope 
more feebly for that, which we 
at onee desire the more, and 
believe the less—God the 
Word was made flesh, that, 
through God the Word made 
flesh, flesh might go forward 
to God the Word. And lest 
the Word made flesh should 
either be something else than | 
God the Word, or not be flesh 
of our body, He dwelt among 
us ; so that, as being a dweller, 
He should remain no other 
than God, and, as dwelling 
among us, He should be no 
other than God made flesh of 
our flesh; not deprived of 
what is His own, through His 
condescending to take flesh 
upon Him; since, as the only 
begotten of the Father, full of 
grace and truth, He is both per- 
fect in what is His own, and 
truly present in what is ours. 

12. Divine things are appre- 
hended only by faith. 

This doctrine of the divine 
mystery my mind _ joyfully 
adopted, going forward to 
God through the flesh, and 
being called to a new birth 
through faith, and com- 
mitted to its own power that 
it might obtain a heavenly 


ST. HILARY’S 


in se parentis sui Creatoris- 
que cognoscens non in nihi- 
lum redigendam se per eum 
existimans, per quem in hoe 
Ipsum quod est, ex nihilo 
substitisset: et haec omnia 
ultra intelligentiae humanae 
metiens sensum, quia ratio 
communium opinionum con- 
silii coelestis incapax, hoc 
solum putet in natura rerum 
esse, quod aut intra se in- 
telligat, aut praestare possit 
ex sese. Dei autem virtutes 
secundum magnificentiam 
aeternae potestatis, non sensu, 
sed fidei infinitate pendebat : 
ut Deum in principio apud 
Deum esse, et Verbum carnem 
factum habitasse in nobis, non 
idcirco non crederet quia non 
intelligeret, sed idcirco se me- 
minisset intelligere posse si 


crederet. 


13. Christi gesta non suc- 
cumbunt naturalibus mentiwm 
sensibus—Ac ne in aliquo 
saecularis prudentiae tardare- 


tur errore, ad piae confessionis 


CONVERSION. 327 


regeneration ; recognising the 
care bestowed on it by its 
Father and Creator ; and con- 
fident that it would not be 
reduced to nothingness by 
Him, by whom it had been 
brought out of nothingness to 
that which it now is. And 
in judging of all these things 
it passed the bounds of human 
intelligence, since ordinary 
reason, incapable of conceiving 
heavenly wisdom, thinks that 
those things alone exist in 
the nature of things, which it 
either perceives within itself, 
or can put forth out of itself. 
But my mind estimated the 
qualities of God according to 
the greatness of His eternal 
power, not by sense, but by 
the boundlessness of faith ; 
and thus it did not disbelieve 
that God was in the beginning 
with God, and that the Word 
made flesh had dwelt among 
us, because it could not under- 
stand these things; but, on 
the contrary, it bore in mind 
that it could understand them 
only if it believed them. 

13. The actions of Christ 
do not submit themselves to 
the natural perceptions of our 
minds. 

And that my soul might 
not be impeded by any error 


328 


hujus absolutissimam fidem 
ita insuper per Apostolum 
divinis dictis edocetur : Videte 
ne quis vos spoliet per philoso- 
phiam et inanem deceptionem, 
secundum traditionem hominum, 
secundum elementa mundi, et 
non secundum Christum: guia 
in ipso inhabitat omnis pleni- 
tudo divinitatis corporaliter, et 
astis im illo repleti, qui est 
caput omnis principatus et po- 
testatis ; im quo et circumeisi 
estis, circumcisione non manu 
facta im exspoliatione corporis 
carnis, sed circumcisione Christi, 
consepultt et im baptismate, in 
quo et resurreaistis per fidem 
operationis Dei, qui eaxcitavit 
eum a mortuis. Ht vos, cum 
essetis mortur im delictis et 
praeputiatione carnis vestrae, 
vivificavit cum illo, donatis 
vobis omnibus delictis, delens 
quod adversum nos erat chiro- 
graphum wm sententis, quod 
erat contrarium nobis : et ipsum 
tulit e medio affigens illud cruci, 
exutus carnem, et potestates 
ostentui fecit, triumphatis vs 
cum fiducia in semetipso (Coloss. 


ii, 8, et segg.). Respuit cap- 


NOTE 15. 


of worldly wisdom, it was 
further taught to have a 
most complete faith in this 
pious confession by the Apos- 
tle in his divine words :— 
‘Beware lest any man spoil 
you through philosophy and 
vain deceit, after the rudiments 
of the world, and not after 
Christ. For in Him dwelleth 
al] the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily. And ye are complete 
in Him, which is the head of 
all principality and power; in 
whom also ye are circumcised 
with the cireumeision made 
without hands, in putting off 
the body of the sins of the 
flesh by the circumcision of 
Christ ; buried with Him in 
baptism, wherein also ye are 
risen with Him through the 
faith of the operation of God, 
who hath raised Him from 
the dead. And you, being 
dead in your sins and the 
uncireumcision of your flesh 
hath He quickened together 
with Him, having forgiven 
you all trespasses ; blotting 
out the handwriting of ordin- 
ances that was against us, 
which was contrary to us, and 
took it out of the way, nail- 
ing it to His cross; and hav- 
ing spoiled principalities and 
powers, He made a show of 


o ST, HILARY’S 


tiosas et inutiles philoso- 
phiae quaestiones fides con- 
stans, neque humanarum in- 
eptiarum fallaciis succumbens, 
spolium se praebet veritas 
falsitati; non secundum sen- 
sum communis intelligentiae 


de 


Christo secundum mundi ele- 


Deum retinens, neque 
menta decernens, In quo di- 
vinitatis plenitudo corpora- 
liter inhabitet : 


finitas aeternae 


ut dum in- 
in eo est 
potestatis, omnem  terrenae 
mentis amplexum  potestas 
aeternae infinitatis excedat ; 
qui 


naturam trahens, non etiam- 


nos ad divinitatis suae 


num corporali: praeceptorum 
observatione distrinxerit, ne- 
que per legis umbram ad 
solemnia desecandae carnis 
(id est, circumcisionis) imbu- 
erit ; sed ut omnem naturalem 
corporis necessitatem circum- 
cisus a vitiis spiritus criminum 
emundatione purgaret; cujus 
morti consepeliremur in bap- 
tismo, ut in aeternitatis vitam 
rediremus; dum regeneratio ad 
vitam mors esset ex vita, et 


morientes vitiis immortalitati 


CONVERSION. 329 


them openly, triumphing over 
them in it’ (Coloss. 11, 8-15). 
A steady faith rejects the 
captious and useless questions 
of philosophy ; nor does truth, 
yielding to the fallacies of 
human follies, offer itself as a 
spoil to falsehood. Faith does 
not hold God according to the 
apprehension of ordinary un- 
derstanding, nor judge accord- 
ing to the elements of the 
world concerning Christ, in 
whom dwells all the fulness 
of the Godhead bodily; so 
that, while in Him is the 
infinity of eternal power, the 
power of His eternal infinity 
exceeds all grasp of the earthly 
mind. 
ward the nature of His own 
Godhead, has no longer bound 
us to the corporal observance 
of precepts, nor held us to the 
rite of the cutting off of the 
flesh ; that is, of circumcision ; 
but to this, that the spirit, 
circumcised from sin, should 
purify every natural necessity 
of the body by the cleansing a- 
way of offences. Weare buried 
with Him in baptism, that we 
might come forth to the life of 
eternity ; so that death from 
life might be a regeneration 
to life, and that we, dying to 
sin, might be born again to 


He, drawing us to- 


330 


renasceremur ; ipso pro nobis 
ex immortalitate moriente, ut 
ad immortalitatem una cum 
eo excitaremur ex morte. 
Carnem enim peccati recepit, 
ut assumptione nostrae carnis 
delicta donaret, dum ejus fit 
particeps assumptione, non 
crimine; delens per mortem 
sententiam mortis, ut nova 
in se generis nostri creatione 
constitutionem decreti ante- 
rioris aboleret; cruci se figi 
permittens, ut maledicto cru- 


cis obliterata terrenae damna- 


tionis maledicta figeret omnia ; 


ad ultimum in homine passus 
ut potestates dehonestaret : 
dum Deus secundum Scrip- 
turas moriturus et in his vin- 
centis in se fiducia triumph- 
aret; dum immortalis ipse, 
neque morte vincendus, pro 
morientium aeternitate more- 
retur. Haec itaque ultra na- 
turae humanae intelligentiam 
a Deo gesta non succumbunt 
rursum naturalibus mentium 
sensibus ; quia infinitae aeter- 
nitatis operatio infinitam me- 
tiendi exigat opinionem; ut 


cum Deus homo, cum immor- 


NOTE 15. 


immortality ; He Himself dy- 
ing for us out of immortality, 
that we might be raised to- 
gether with Him out of death 
to immortality. For He took 
sinful flesh, that, by taking 
on Him our flesh, He might 
forgive our trespasses; be- 
coming partaker of it by 
taking it on Him, not by 
any offence; blotting out 
through death the sentence 
of death, that, by a new crea- 
tion of our race in Himself, 
He might do away with the 
establishment of the former 
ordinances ; allowing Himself 
to be nailed to the cross, that 
by the curse of the cross He 
might blot out and nail to the 
cross all the curses of earthly 
condemnation ; suffering to 
the uttermost as a man, that 
He might dishonour princi- 
palities and powers ; that God, 
who according to the Scrip- 
tures was to die, might also 
triumph over these with the 
self-confidence of a conqueror ; 
that He, though immortal 
Himself, and not to be con- 
quered by death, might die on 
behalf of the eternal life of 
dying men. These things, 
thus done by God beyond the 
limits of human understand- 
ing, do not come -under the 


ST. HILARY’S 


talis mortuus, cum aeternus 
sepultus est, non sit intelli- 
gentiae ratio, sed potestatis 
exceptio; ita rursum e con- 
trario non sensus, sed virtutis 
modus sit, ut Deus ex homine, 
ut immortalis ex mortuo, ut 
Co- 


ergo a Deo in 


aeternus sit ex sepulto. 
excitamur 
Christo per mortem ejus. Sed 
dum in Christo plenitudo est 
divinitatis, habemus et signi- 
ficationem Dei patris nos co- 
excitantis in mortuo, et Chris- 
tum Jesum non aliud quam 
Deum in divinitatis plenitu- 


dine confitendum. 


14. Christi fides et mortis 
metum et vitae tollit taedium.— 
In hoe ergo conscio securi- 
tatis suae otio mens spebus 
suis laeta requieverat: inter- 
cessionem mortis hujus usque 
eo non metuens, ut etiam 


reputaret in vitam aeterni- 


CONVERSION. 3o1 


natural perceptions of our 
minds, because the working 
of an infinite eternity requires 
an infinite power of thought 
to measure it; so that, when 
God is man, when the im- 
mortal One dies, when the 
eternal One is buried, it does 
not answer to rational under- 
standing, but is a putting 
forth of power ; and so again 
on the other hand, it does not 
depend on the measure of 
sense, but of strength, that 
He should be God from man, 
immortal from being dead, 
eternal from being buried. 
We are raised up together 
then by God in Christ through 
His death. But since in Christ 
is the fulness of the Godhead 
we both have God the Father 
pointed out to us as raising us 
up together in Him who died, 
and are taught that Christ 
Jesus must be confessed to be 
no other than God in the ful- 
ness of the Godhead. 


14. Hath im Christ removes 
both fear of death and weari- 
ness of life. 

In this state of ease then 
and conscious security my 
mind had rested, rejoicing in 
its hopes, and so far from 
fearing the coming of death, 
that it even reckoned it as 


832 
tatis. Vitam autem hujus 
corporis sui non modo non 
molestam sibi aut aegram 
arbitrabatur, ut eam quod 
pueritiae litteras, quod aegris 
medicinam, quod naufragis 
natatum, quod adolescentibus 
disciplinam, quod mulitiam 
esse crederet imperaturis ; re- 
rum scilicet praesentium tole- 
rantiam, ad praemium beatae 
immortalitatis proficientem. 
Quin etiam id, quod sibi cre- 
debat, tamen per ministerium 
impositi sacerdoti etiam cae- 
teris praedicabat, munus suum 
ad officium publicae salutis 


extendens. 


NOTE 16. 


that of eternal life. And this 
its bodily life it not only did 
not consider as wearisome or 
disagreeable, but looked on 
as being what letters are to 
childhood, what medicine is 
to the sick, what swimming 
is to the shipwrecked, what 
learning is to young men, 
what military service is to 
those who are in future to 
command ; an endurance, in 
fact, of the present state of 
things, profitable towards the 
reward of a blessed immor- 
tality. Furthermore, that 
which is believed for itself, it 
also preached to others in the 
ministry of the priesthood 
which had been laid on it, 
extending its own gift to the 
service of the general weal. 


NOTE 16, p. 163. 


Such was one of the reproaches of Celsus. 


Subjoined is 


Origen’s reply to it, from his work against Celsus. 


9. Mera ratra mporpeme: ent TO 


Adya KoAovOotvras Kal AoyiK@ 
< “~ / 
odny, TapadexecOa ddypata’ 
€ / 5 / / ~” 
OS TAVTWS ATATHS yLvopEvns TO 
\ vA , 7 
Bn ovbTw ovyKatatidener@ Tio 
Kat e£oporot Ttovs aAdyws T~ 


/ / \ 
aTevovTws Mytpayvptais Kat 


Chap. ix. He next proceeds 
to recommend that in adopt- 
ing opinions we should follow 
reason and a rational guide, 
since he who assents to opi- 
nions without following this 
course 1s very lable to be 
deceived. And he compares 
inconsiderate believers to 


ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 


TepatooKkoTois, Méi@pats Te Kat 
LaBBadiows, kal dt@ tis Tpoo- 
érvyev, “Exdtns, 7) GAAns dai- 
povos 7) Sayover ddcpacw, 
‘Qs yap év ekelvors modAakis 
poxOnpot avOpwrot, em PBaivov- 
tes TH lduwreia Tov eveLaTarTy- 
twv, dyovow avrovs 7 BovAov- 
Tau’ ovTw gdyot Kal év Tots 
Xpiotiavois ylyverOa, Pyotr 
pnde BovdAopevous 


Siddvar 7) AapBavew Adyov wept 


dé Tivas 


e a a \ 
Ov TLaTevoval, xpna0ar To, M7 
Kal, 


Kai 


e€érace, adda Tlorevoor" 
‘H alotis cov cece oe. 
/ \ € 
now avtovs A€yew" Kaxov 7 
5) cal / , ) \ es 
év TO Bim copia, dyafov o 7 
Ser bs A 
pwpia. Aexréov d€ pos TodTO, 
Stu ei pev oldy Te TayTas Kara- 
Aundvtas TA TOD Blov mpdypara 
axodde To irocodeiy, ad- 
Anv 6ddv ov peTadLMKTEoV OvdEVt 
 tavtny povnv. EvpeOjoerat 
x <3 ee Cad 3 
yap kal €v T@ XpioTiavicpw ovK 
éAdtrav, tva pry poptikdy Te 
elmw, eféracis TOY TeETLOTEU- 
/ x V6 a y] an 
PEVOV, Kal OLNYNoLs THY EV TOLS 


mpodyrais aivtypat@v, kal Tov 


333 


Metragyrtae, and soothsayers, 
and Mithrae, and Sabbadians, 
and to anything else that one 
may fall in with, and to the 
phantoms of Hecate, or any 
other demon or demons. For 
as amongst such persons are 
frequently to be found wicked 
men who, taking advantage 
of the ignorance of those who 
are easily deceived, lead them 
away whither they will, so 
also, he says, is the case 
among Christians. And he 
asserts that certain persons 
who do not wish either to 
give or receive a reason for 
their belief, keep repeating, 
‘ Do not examine but believe !’ 
and, ‘ Your faith will save you!’ 
And he alleges that such also 
say, ‘The wisdom of this life 
is bad, but that foolishness is 
a good thing!’ To which we 
have to answer, that if it were 
possible for all to leave the 
business of life and devote 
themselves to philosophy, no 
other method ought to be 
adopted by any one, but this 
alone. For in the Christian 
system also it will be found 
that there is, not to speak at 
all arrogantly, at least as 
much of investigation into 
articles of belief, and of ex- 
planation of dark 


sayings 


334 


év Tots EvayyeAtots mapaBodrOr, 
Kat GAXov puplov cvpBodLKOs 
/ Ds Id 
YEyevnuevon 7) vevopobeTnpevov. 
Ei 8& todr dujyavov, 7) ev 
dua Tas Tod Blov dvdyxas, 7 
dé kal dia THY TOV avOpdrav 
dodeverav, opddpa oAlyev én 
\ , 9 , . , oN 
Tov Aoyov aQTToVvTwY* Toa av 
GAAn BeAtlov pébodos mpds Td 
Tots TOAAOLs BonOnaar etpeOein 
THs ato Tod "Incov Tots €Ovect 
mapadobetons; Kat mvvéavo- 
peOd ye mept Tov mANnOovs Tov 
4 X\ \ id 
TLOTEVOVT@Y, THY TOAAHY XUVoLW 
Le f 3 , 2 & 
THS Kaktas amoPewevwv, ev 7 
, 3 a e le 
TpOTEpov €xadtvoovvTo* TmOTEPOV 
BeAridy eéoti avtots dddyos 
, / \ 
TioTEvoucL KaTEGTAAOaL Tes Ta 
70n kat opeAjoOat, 1a tiv Tept 
n 3 ed c fe 
TOV KoAaCopevwy emt Gyapriats, 
\ / beer 
Kal Tiu@pEevav eT Epyols xpn- 
rn ig Xv 9 f 
oTols TiaTLW, H py TpooLeTOat 
peat \ 3 XN \ 
avray Ti ETLoTpOdHY pera 
a ed pI] lan 
wWidns tlorews, Ews dv éemddoLv 
Eautous e€eracer Adywv ; Dave- 
na \ € if x 52 
pOs yap ot mavtes map édaxl- 


a / 
aTous ovde TovTO AjWovTal, STeEp 


ciAndaciv, €k TOD aTAGS TeETI- 


NOTE 16. 


occurring in the prophetical 
writings, and of the parables 
in the Gospels, and of count- 
less other things, which either 
were narrated or enacted with 
a symbolical signification, [as 
is the case with other sys- 
tems]. But since the course 
alluded to is impossible, partly 
on account of the necessities 
of life, partly on account of 
the weakness of men, as only 
a very few individuals devote 
themselves earnestly to study, 
what better method could be 
devised with a view of assist- 
ing the multitude than that 
which was delivered by Jesus 
to the heathen? And let us 
inquire, with respect to the 
great multitude of believers 
who have washed away the 
mire of wickedness in which 
they formerly wallowed, whe- 
ther it were better for them 
to believe without a reason, 
and [so] to have become re- 
formed and improved in their 
habits, through the belief that 
men are chastised for sins and 
honoured for good works; or 
not to have allowed them- 
selves to be converted on the 
strength of mere faith, but [to 
have waited] until they could 
give themselves to a thorough 
examination of the [necessary | 


ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 


oTevkeval’ GAAG pevovory ev ka- 
kloT@ Bio. Eizep ody GAXo Tt ka= 
TATKEVAOTLKOY EGTL TOV, TO piA~ 
dvOpatov tod Adyov ovK abecl 
TO Biw TOV avOpOToD éTLOEdHpN- 
Kevau’ Kal TOUT avtois cvyKaTa- 
pipnréov. “O yap evdafis 
ovde cwpdtev iatpov, modAovs 
emt TO BéATLOV voootyTas aya- 
yovta, oinoerar adeet méAEoL Kat 
COveow emidnuety' ovdev yap 


xpnorov ev avOpémos adeel 


ylyverat. Ei 8€ 6 wodd@v. 


, VA x Celi \ 
copata Oeparevoas, én TO 

/ \ > 3 “a 
BedAtioy Tpoayaywv ovK alect 
Oeparevert mécm TA€ov 6 TOA- 
AGy Woyas Oeparedoas, kal ém- 

/ \ 
otpewas, Kal PedATLOcas, Kal 
>) , bP ee ny Cath oe Sek 
amaptncas avuTas Oeotv tod em 
Tact, kat diddéas Tacav mpaéiv 
avapepew em THY exelvou dpé- 
3 

oKelav, Kal mavr’ éxkAlvewy, Oo’ 
, / LA p) ra] ad \ / 
amapecta €oTt Oe, Kal péxpe 

9 an / \ 
Tov €Aaxlotov TGV AEyoMEVOY 7} 


\ 


/ \ 2 3 # 
TPATTOMEVvov 7) Kat Els EvOdUN- 


TW EPXOMEVOY 5 


335 


reasons. For it is manifest 
that [on such a plan] all men, 
with very few exceptions, 
would not obtain this [ame- 
hhoration of conduct] which 
they have obtained through 
a simple faith, but would 
continue to remain in the 
practice of a wicked life. 
Now whatever other evidence 
ean be furnished of the fact, 
that it was not without divine 
intervention that the philan- 
thropie scheme of Christianity 
was introduced among men, 
this also must be added. For 
a pious man will not believe 
that even a physician of the 
body, who restores the sick 
to better health, could take 
up his abode in any city or 
country without divine per- 
mission, since no good happens 
to men without the help of 
God. And if he who has 
cured the bodies of many, 
or restored them to better 
health, does not effect his 
cures without the help of 
God, how much more he 
who has healed the souls of 
many, and has turned them 
[to virtue] and improved their 
nature and attached them to 
God who is over all things, and 
taught them to refer every ac- 
tion to his good pleasure, and 


336 


10. Eir’, éwel ta wept tis 
miotews OpvdAdovoL, AexTE€ov OTL 
€ n aN If bY 
nels ev TapadayBavovtes av- 

iN € , a a 
THY WS XpHoywov TOls TOAXoOts, 
e a I? / 
OMOAOYOUPLED OLOATKELVY TLOTEVELVY 

\ 29 4 \ \ , 

Kal aAoyws, Tovs pn SvVvapevous 

/ a \ b) 
Tavta Katadinely Kat akodov- 
Oety e€erdoe: Adyou' exeivor Se 

cal x © Le a 
TOUTO py OmoAOyoULTES, TOLS 
” SnON a f, \ 
Epyols avto Tolovolt. Tis yap 

\ pee / \ 
mpoTpamels emt diAoocodiay, Kal 
> n 2 Bnei 2 ¢/ 
ATOKANPOTLKOS ETL TLVA AlpEoLD 
¢€ S , ces x “” 
eauTov dirocodwor pias, 7 Tw 
eUTOpHKEval TOLODdE SidacKdAon, 
AA dpa fal By \ tal 
aAAws €ml TOUTO EpXETAL, 7) TO 

if \ ¢ 3 4 
TLOTEVELY TIV aipeolw €xeivny 

i¢ be b x 
kpelttova elvar; Ov yap mept- 

/ . “~ \ / 
pelvas akovoal Tovs TavTwY 

4 / \ n 
pirocodpwv Adyous Kal TOY OLa- 

, eer bE ° 
dopwv atpévewr, Kal THY avaTtpo- 

~ Ay lal %,3 are / 
TV LEVTOVOE, KAT AT KEUTD O€ ETE- 

¢ ¢ a ” > ow AN 
pov,ouTas alpetrar 7TOL STwikos, 
x \ 
7) Aatwvekds, 7 Llepimarnrixos, 
® X\ 
7) “Emtxovpevos etvat, 7) omovas- 
piriocddwv 


, wes . 
Snore alperews 


NOTE 16. 


to shun all that is displeasing 
to him, even to the least of 
their words or deeds, or even of 
the thoughts of their hearts ? 

Chap. x. In the next place, 
since our opponents keep 
repeating those statements 
about faith, we must say 
that, considering it as a use- 
ful thing for the multitude, 
we admit that we teach those 
men to believe without reasons 
who are unable to abandon all 
other employments and give 
themselves to an examination 
of arguments; and our oppo- 
nents, although they do not 
acknowledge it, yet practi- 
cally do the same. For who 
is there that, on betaking 
himself to the study of phi- 
losophy, and throwing himself 
into the ranks of some sect, 
either by chance, or because 
he is provided with a teacher 
of that school, adopts such a 
course for any other reason 
except that he Jdelheves his 
particular sect to be superior 
toany other? For not waiting 
to hear the arguments of all 
the other philosophers, and of 
all the different sects, and the 
reasons for condemning one 
system and for supporting 
another, he in this way elects 
to become a Stoic, eg., or a 


ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 


e) > 3 , a X\ A 
GAN adoyw twi, Kav pn Bov- 
Awptrat TodTO dpodoyety, hopa 
€pxetat emt TO aoxjoar, pép’ 
3 val \ wo \ , 
eimetv, TOY XTwikov AOyov, kaTa-~ 
himev te Tovs AotTovs* 7 TOV 
Tlkarovixoy trepppovicas, os 
TAMELWOTEpOY TOV GAA, 7) TOV 
[lepurarntixoyv, as avOpwmke- 
TEpov, Kat paAdov TOV AoiTOoV 
¢€ Ig 3 ld ¢ 
ALPETEWY EVYVWLOVMS OM0dO= 
yotvta Ta avOpdsmiva dayadd. 
Kal amd mpétns 5¢ tpocBodjs 
, XS > \ » 
TapaxOevtes tives eis TOV TeEpt 
4 / 3 can ak. is 
mpovoias Aoyov, €K TOY eT Yyis 
yevonevwv avdos Kal omov- 
daiows, mpomeTeoTEpoy ovyKare- 
Oevto TO pnday@s civar mpd- 
>" \ ’ 4 \ 
votay, kat Tov ‘EXnuxovpov kal 
KéAcov elAovto Adyov. 
11. Eimep ovy de? mucreveuw, 


e € 


ws 6 Adyos didakev, Evi tive 
nm € / 2 
TOV alpéces elonynoapevwn ev 
¢/ n 
EAAnow 7 BapBdpows’ mds 
ovxt paddov TO emt TAL Dew, 
\ re ig “A , 
kal T® Ol0acKOVTL TOUTOY ovo 
delvy oéBew, Ta 5€ AowTa, 7roL 
ec a ¥ x‘ .4 + \ 
@S PN OVTA, 7 @S OVTA peév Kal 


r ov bl) . \ la 
Tins Géva ov pny Kal TpooKuvy- 


337 


Platonist, or a Peripatetic, or 
an Epicurean, or a follower of 
some other school, and is thus 
borne, although they will not 
admit it, by a kind of irra- 
tional impulse to the practice, 
say of Stoicism, to the disre- 
gard of the others; despising 
either Platonism, as being 
marked by greater humility 
than the others; or Peripa- 
teticism, as more human, and 
asadmitting with more fairness 
than other systems the bless- 
ings of human life. And 
some also, alarmed at first 
sight about the doctrine of 
providence, from seeing what 
happens in the world to the 
vicious and to the virtuous, 
have rashly concluded that 
there is no divine providence 
at all, and have adopted the 
views of Epicurus and Cel- 


sus. 


Since then, as 
reason teaches, we must re- 
pose faith in some one of 
those who have been the 
introducers of sects among 
the Greeks or barbarians, 
why should we not rather 
believe in God who is over 
all things, and in Him who 
teaches that worship is due 
to God alone, and that other 
things are to be passed by 


Chap, x1. 


398 


gews Kal weBaopov, Tapopar ; 
Ilept av 6 py tmorevmv podvor, 
GANA Kal Adyw OewpGv TA Tpay- 
pata, e€pet Tas wnromiTTOVoAS 
S ” X\ € / b) lal 
avT@, Kal EvUpLoKOMEVvas EK TOD 
mavu (ytety amodeléers. [lds 
3 a 
5 ovk evAoyéTEpoy TavTwY TOV 
3 rg l4 > t 
AVOPaTIVAV TITTEMS NPTHUEVOV, 
3 ie nC , n 
ExeLvoyv paddov TLoTEvELY TH 
Geo 5; Tls yap mel, 7) yapel, 7) 
a Nes SS f 
TALOOTOLEITAL, 7) PimTEL TA OT EP- 
5 We XX ‘ad af XS 
Mata én THY yHv, pr Ta Kpelr- 
/, 3 4 
Tova ~TloTEVWY aTavTHcETOaL, 
duvatod évtos Kal Tov évartla 
/ \ wv v4 
yeverOar Kal éoTiv Gre ywwo- 
pevov; “AA Gums 7) wept Tod 
N , ee ty tee 
Ta Kpeltrova Kal Ta Kat’ edyx7V 
‘4 
TlorTLs 


dravrncecbat TOAMGY 


madvras novel, kal em Ta Gdynda 
kat dvvata GAAws ovpPyvat. 
Ei d€ cuvéxer tov Biov ev mao 
mpage, ddprw, Stws exByoeTat, 
% €Amls kal 7) TEpl TOY jLeAdOV- 
TOY xpynoToTépa lois’ mds 
ov paddov airn mapadndd- 
oeTat evAdyws TH ToTEvoVTL 


ineép tiv TAEopernv Oddac- 


mn / 
gay, Kal ynv ometpoyerny, Kal 


NOTE 16. 


either as non-existent, or as 
existing indeed, and worthy 
of honour, but not of worship 
and reverence? And respect- 
ing these things, he who not 
only believes, but who con- 
templates things with the 
eye of reason will state the 
demonstrations that occur to 
him, and which are the result 
of careful investigation. And 
why should it not be more 
reasonable, seeing all human 
things are dependent upon 
faith, to believe God rather 
than them? For who enters 
on a voyage, or contracts a 
marriage, or becomes the 
father of children, or casts 
seed into the ground, without 
believing that better things 
will result from so doing, 
although the contrary might 
and sometimes does happen ? 
And yet the belief that better 
things, even agreeably to their 
wishes, will follow, makes all 
men venture upon uncertain 
enterprises, which may turn 
out differently from what 
they expect. And if the hope 
and belief of a better future 
be the support of life in 
every uncertain enterprise, 
why shall not this faith 
rather be rationally accepted 
by him who believes, on better 


ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 


yuvaika yayoupevnv, Kal Ta 
Aowra ev dvOpdrois mpdypara, 
TO Tadta TavtTa SnuLovpynoavte 
OeG, kal TO pera UTEpBaddAovons 
peyadovolas Kal Oelas peyado- 


TOAPNTAVTL TOUTOV 


ppoovyys 
TOV Adyov TapacThoat Tots Tav- 
Taxod THs olkovpevns, pmeTa 
peydAwy kivdtvvey Kal Oavdrov 
/ b ret a € 4 
vopcopevov ariov, & VmEemELVvEV 
tmeép avOpatav bidagas kal 
Tovs UTEpeTEioOat TH SidacKarlg 
> ny 3 n 5 ca dd 
abirod éy TH apxy mevodevTas, 
XX / \ n 
PETA TAaVTwWY KWOvVOEY Kal TOV 
del tpocdoKopevov Oavdrwr, 
ToApHoal aToonujoa mavtaxov 
THs olkovperns tmep THs TOV 


3 , ff 
avopatov cwrnptas ; 


339 


grounds than he who sails the 
sea, or tills the ground, or 
marries a wife, or engages in 
any other human pursuit, in 
the existence of a God who 
was the Creator of all these 


- things, and in Him who with 


surpassing wisdom and divine 
greatness of mind dared to 
make known this doctrine to 
men in every part of the 
world at the cost of great 
danger, and of a death con- 
sidered infamous, which He 
underwent for the sake of 
the human race; having also 
taught those who were per- 
suaded to embrace His doc- 
trines at the first, to proceed, 
under the peril of every danger 
and of ever impending death, 
to all quarters of the world to 
ensure the salvation of men ?— 
From the Ante-Nicene Christian 
Inbrary. T.and T. Clark, 1871. 


NOTE 17, p. 179. 


Luther’s teaching on Faith has been so strangely mis- 
represented that it may be well to present the reader with an 
extract of some length from his most beautiful, and perhaps 
his most characteristic production—the Treatise De Libertate 


Christiand. 


This work, which was written before the struggle 


with the Pope had become irretrievably embittered, expresses 
the very essence of the Reformer’s mind, and a perusal of 
it would dissipate many misconceptions respecting him. 


Z2 


340 NOTE 17. 


The most injurious of those misconceptions overlook the es- 
sential point in the teaching embodied in this Treatise. That 
point is that Faith is a response to the word and promise of 
God, and derives from that promise its whole justification and 
efficacy. Without that foundation, it would be baseless and 
unreal, But with that foundation, it holds an entirely diffe- 
rent position. For instance, Dr. Mozley says (Hssays, vol. 1. 
p- 346), that Luther’s Faith was ‘a pure and abstract faculty 
of confidence.’ But the Reformer himself says (p. 349, below) 
that Faith is ‘wholly absorbed in the words of God,’ and ‘is 
saturated with all their virtue.’ He is further represented as 
saying, ‘ Feel yourself safe; if you feel safe, you are safe.’ It 
would rather appear, from these extracts, that he said the very 
opposite. Luther said, ‘If you trust to your feelings you will 
always have reason to feel unsafe, and in danger of perdition. 
But God, through Christ and Christ’s Church, promises you 
forgiveness and salvation. Believe that promise, and rest upon 
it in perfect confidence.’ The developments of this principle 
led to a prolonged and difficult controversy, on which it would 
be out of place here to enter. But it would at least appear 
to be wholly different from the strange theory so often at- 
tributed to the Reformer. The Word of God, with the pro- 
mise it conveys, is the vital element in the case, and Faith 
is merely its correlative. But it is better to let Luther speak 
for himself. The accompanying translation is that published 
by the Rev. H. Cole, 1826. 


Facilis res multis est visa 
Christiana fides, quam et non 
pauci inter virtutes ceu socias 
numerant, quod faciunt, quia 
nuilo experimento eam pro- 
baverunt, nec quantae sit vir- 


tutis unquam gustaverunt, 


Christian faith has ap- 
peared to many an easy mat- 
ter ; of whom not a few have 
classed it among the moral vir- 
tues, nay, have made it merely 
a sort of attendant on virtue. 
And this they have done be- — 
cause they have never proved 
what it is in their own expe- 
rience, nor internally tasted 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


cum fieri non possit, ut bene 
de ea scribat, aut recte scripta 
bene intelligat, qui non spi- 
ritum ejusdem, urgentibus tri- 
bulationibus, aliquando gus- 
tarit. Quiautem vel paululum 
gustavit, non potest unquam 
satis de eadem scribere, dicere, 
cogitare, audire. Fons enim 
vivus est saliens in vitam 
aeternam, ut Christus Johan. 
iv. appellat. 

Ego autem quamquam de 
abundantia non glorier, sciam- 
que, quam sit mihi curta 
supellex, spero tamen nonnul- 
lam guttam fidei magnis et 
variis agitatum tentationibus 
me consecutum, posseque sl 
non elegantius, certe solidius 
de ea re dicere, quam literales 
illi et subtiles nimirum dispu- 
tatores hactenus disseruerunt, 
sua ipsorum non intelligentes. 

Quo autem faciliorem viam 


rudibus (nam lis solis servio) 


aperiam, duo haec themata 


341 


its power. Whereas no one 
can truly describe it himself, 
nor really understand it when 
truly described, unless he has 
at some time, under the fiery 
trial of pressing conflicts, 
tasted the spirit of it in his 
own soul. And he who has 
really tasted this, even in 
the smallest degree, can never 
write of it, speak of it, think 
of it, nor hear of it enough : 
for it is, as Christ calls it, 
‘a living fountain springing 
up into everlasting life’ (St. 
John iv). 

As to myself, though I 
may not boast of an abundant 
stock of this grace (for I 
deeply feel my straitened de- 
ficieney), yet I do trust that 
out of the great and various 
tribulations under which I 
have been exercised I have 
gotten of faith a certain 
drachm ; and that I can there- 
fore treat of it, if not more 
eloquently, yet certainly more 
substantially than any of those 
learned and subtle ones have 
hitherto done in all their 
laboured disputations ; who, 
after they had done, knew not 
what they themselves had 
written upon the subject. 
But in order to open up this 
matter the more plainly to 


B42 


praemitto, de libertate et ser- 

vitute spiritus. 
Christianus homo omnium 
Dominus est liberrimus, 
nulli subjectus, Christi- 
anus homo omnium servus 
est officiosissimus, omni- 
bus subjectus. 

Haec quamquam pugnare 
videantur, tamen, ubi conve- 
nire inventa fuerint, pulchre 
facient ad institutum nostrum. 
Sunt enim ipsius Pauli utra- 
que dicentis 1 Corinth. ix: 
Cum liber essem, omnium me 
servum feci; Rom. xii: Ne- 
mini quidquam debeatis, nisi 
ut invicem diligatis. Amor 
vero natura sua officiosus est 
et obsequens ei, quod amatur. 
Sic et Christus, quamquam 
omnium Dominus, factus ta- 
men ex muliere, factus est sub 
lege, simul liber et servus, 
simul in forma Dei et in forma 


serv. 
% * % % 


NOTE 17. 


simple souls (since it is for 
them only I write) I lay down 
at the outset these two propo- 
sitions concerning the bond- 
age and liberty of the Spirit : 

i, The Christian man is a 
most free lord of all, 
subject to none. 

ii. The Christian man 1s 
the most dutiful servant 
of all, subject to all. 

Though these two things 

may seem to be contradictions, 
yet when they shall be found 
to harmonise, they will sweetly 
make for our present pur- 
pose. Both these propositions 
then are of Paul himself, who 
saith, 1 Cor. ix: ‘ For though 
I be free from all men, yet 
have I made myself servant 
unto all.’ Again, Rom. xiii: 
‘Owe no man anything, but 
to love one another.’ For 
the nature of love is to be 
dutiful and affectionately obe- 
dient unto the object beloved. 
Thus Christ, though Lord of 
all, was yet ‘made ofa woman, 
made under the law;’ at the 
same time free and a servant ; 
at the same time in the form 
of God and in the form of a 
servant (Gal. iv.) 
* * ** * 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


Et ut omnia rejiciamus, 
etiam speculationes, medita- 
tiones, et quidquid per animae 
studia geri potest, nihil pro- 
dest ; una re, eaque sola opus 
est ad vitam, justitiam, et 
libertatem Christianam, ea est 
sacrosanctum verbum Dei, 
evangelium Christi, sicut dicit 
Johan. xi: Ego sum resur- 
rectio et vita, qui credit in 
me, non morietur in aeternum; 
item viii: Si Filius vos libe- 
raverit, vere liberi eritis; et 
Matth. iv: Non in solo pane 
vivit homo, sed in omni verbo, 
quod procedit ab ore Dei. 

Certum ergo habeamus ac 
animam 


firmiter positum, 


posse omnibus rebus carere, 


excepto verbo Dei, sine quo — 


nullis prorsus rebus est illi 
consultum. Habens autem 
verbum dives est, nullius 
egens, cum sit verbum vitae, 
veritatis, lucis, pacis, justi- 
tiae, salutis, gaudii, libertatis, 


sapientiae, virtutis, gratiae, 


343 


In a word, to reject all 
things :—neither speculations, 
meditations, nor the greatest 
devotional efforts of which 
the human mind is capable, 
avail anything. One thing, 
and that only, can affect the 
life, the righteousness, and 
the liberty of a Christian— 
and that is, the most holy 
word of God, the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ: as he saith, 
John xi, ‘I am the resurrec- 
tion and the life, he that be- 
lieveth in me shall never die.’ 
Again, John vii, ‘If the Son 
shall make you free, you shall 
be free indeed.’ And again, 
Matt. iv, ‘Man shall not live 
by bread alone, but by every 
word that proceedeth out of 
the mouth of God.’ 


This then we may consider 
as a fixed and absolute cer- 
tainty, that the soul may en- 
dure the want of everything 
but the word of God. De- 
prived of this, it cannot re- 
ceive benefit from any one 
thing; but having this, it is 
rich, wanting nothing: for it 
is the word of life, of truth, 
of light, of peace, of righte- 
ousness, of salvation, of joy, 
of liberty, of wisdom, of 
strength, of grace, of glory, 
of all good that passeth under- 


344 


gloriae, et omnis boni inaes- 
timabiliter. Hoe est, quod 
propheta octonario toto, et 
multis aliis locis tot gemitibus 
et vocibus suspirat et invocat 


verbum Dei. 

Rursus nec saevior plaga 
irae Dei, quam dum mittit 
famem auditus verbi sui, ut in 
Amos dicit: sicut nec major 
est gratia, quam si emittat 
verbum suum, ut Psal. civ: 
Misit verbum suum et sanavit 
eos, et eripuit eos de interiti- 
onibus eorum. Neque Christus 
ad aliud officium missus est, 
quam verbi, et apostolicus, 
episcopalis, universusque ordo 
clericorum non nisi in verbi 
ministerium vocatus et insti- 
tutus est. 

Quaeres autem: Quodnam 
est verbum hoc, aut qua arte 
utendum est eo, cum tam 
multa sint verba Dei? Re- 
spondeo: Paulus Apostolus 


Rom. 1. id explicat, scilicet, 


evangelium Dei de Filio suo 


NOTE 17. 


standing! And this is the 
reason why the prophet, 
throughout the whole of his 
Octonary, and in many other 
places, sighs out so many 
prayers, cries, and groans, 
concerning the word of God ! 


And hence, as on the one 
hand no greater plague can 
be inflicted by the anger of 
God than when He sends a 
famine of hearing the word, 
as in Amos vill; so on the 
other, there can be no greater 
token of His favour than 
when He sends His word, as 
in Psalm evii, ‘ He sent His 
word and healed them, and 
delivered them out of their 
destructions.’ Nor was Christ 
sent unto any other office 
than that of the word. Nor 
was the apostolical, episcopal, 
nor the whole ministerial 
order, called and ordained to 
any other purpose than the 
ministry of the word. 

But you will ask, Which 
word of God is this, and how 
must it be made use of, for 
there are so many words of 
God? I answer, the Apostle 
Paul, Rom. i, explains which 
it is. The Gospel of God 
concerning His Son Jesus 
Christ our Lord, who was in- 
carnate, and crucified, and 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


incarnato, passo, resuscitato et 
glorificato per spiritum sanc- 
tificatorem : praedicasse enim 
Christum, hoc est, animam 
pavisse, justificasse, lberasse 
et salvam fecisse, si crediderit 
Fides 


sola est salutaris, et efficax 


praedicationi. enim 
usus verbi Dei, Rom. x: Si 
confitearis ore tuo, Jesum esse 
Dominum, et corde tuo cre- 
dideris, quod Deus illum sus- 
citavit a mortuis, salvus eris. 
Et iterum: Finis legis Chris- 
tus ad justitiam omni credenti, 
et Rom. i: Justus ex fide sua 
vivet. Neque enim verbum 
Dei operibus ullis, sed sola 
fide suscipi et coli potest. Ideo 
clarum est, ut solo verbo 
- anima opus habet ad vitam et 
justitiam, ita sola fide et nullis 
operibus justificatur. Si enim 
alio quopiam justificari posset, 
verbo non haberet opus, ac 
per hoc nec fide. 


* * * * 


Quaeris autem, qua ratione 


b45 


who is risen again, and glori- 
fied by the Holy Ghost the 
Sanctifier. For the preaching 
of Christ, feeds, justifies, sets 
free, and saves the soul that 
believeth what is preached. 
For faith alone is the saving 
and effectual use of the word 
of God, as in Romans x, ‘ If 
thou shalt confess with thy 
mouth that Jesusis the Lord, 
and shalt believe in thine 
heart that God hath raised 
Him from the dead, thou shalt 
be saved.’ Again, ‘Christ is 
the end of the law for righte- 
ousness to every one that 
believeth.’ And again, Ro- 
mans i, ‘The just shall live 
by his faith.’ Nor can the 
word of God be received and 
embraced by any works what- 
ever, but by faith only. And 
therefore it is clear that, as 
the soul needs nothing but 
the word unto life and right- 
eousness, it is justified, with- 
out any works, by faith only. 
For if it could be justified by 
anything else, it would have 
no need of the word, and con- 
sequently no need of faith. 


* * * * 


But you will ask, how can 
it be that faith alone justifies, 


346 


fiat, ut sola fides justificet, et 
sine operibus tantorum bono- 
rum thesaurum praebeat, cum 
tam multa opera, ceremoniae, 
leges in Scripturis nobis prae- 
scripta sint? Respondeo : 
Ante omnia memor esto ejus, 
quod dictum est, solam fidem 
sine operibus justificare, libe- 
rare et salvare, id quod clarius 
infra faciemus. 

Interim signandum, uni- 
versam Scripturam Dei in duo 
partiri, praecepta et promissa. 
Praecepta docent quidem bona, 
sed non statim fiunt, quae 
docta sunt. Ostendunt enim, 
quid facere nos oporteat, sed 
virtutem faciendi non donant. 
In hoe autem sunt ordinata, 
ut hominem sibi ipst osten- 
dant, per quae suam impoten- 
tiam ad bonum cognoscat, et 
de suis viribus desperet. Qua 


causa et vetus ‘T'estamentum 


vocantur et sunt. 


NOTE 17. 


and, without any works, brings 
in such an abundant treasure 
of all good, when so many 
works, ceremonies, and laws, 
are enjoined us in the Scerip- 
tures? I answer—before all 
things hold that in mind 
which I have just shewn; 
that faith alone, without any 
works, justifies, sets free, and 
saves; as shall be more plainly 
shewn hereafter. 


In the meantime I should 
set things distinctly before 
thee thus. The whole Scrip- 
tures of God are divided into 
two parts, precepts and pro- 
mises. The precepts do in- 
deed teach good things, but 
those good things which they 
teach are not at once per- 
formed ; for though they shew 
us what we ought to do, they 
give us no power to perform 
the same. Therefore they 
were expressly ordained to - 
this end, that they might 
shew man to himself; that 
by them he might be brought 
to know his utter inability to 
do that which is good, and to 
despair of all strength in him- 
self: and therefore it is that 
they are called the Old Testa- - 
ment, which indeed they are. 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


Exempli causa, non concu- 
pisces, praeceptum est, quo nos 
omnes esse peccatores convin- 
cimur, cum nemo possit non 
concupiscere, quidquid contra 
molitus fuerit. Ut ergo non 
concupiscat et praeceptum im- 
pleat, cogitur de sese despe- 
rare, et alibi ac per alium 
quaerere auxilium, quod in se 
non invenit, sicut in Hosea 
dicit : 


tantum in me auxilium tuum. 


Perditio tua, Israel, 


Quod autem hoc uno prae- 
cepto agitur, idem omnibus 
agitur. Aeque enim sunt im- 
possibilia nobis omnia. 

Ubi vero per praecepta doc- 
tus fuerit impotentiam suam, 
et jam anxius factus, quo stu- 
dio legi satisfaciat, cum legi 
satisfieri oporteat, ut ne iota 
quidem aut apex praetereat, 
alioquin sine ulla spe damnabi- 
tur: tum vere humiliatus et in 
nihilum redactus coram oculis 
suis non invenit in se ipso, quo 


justificetur et salvus fiat. 


347 


For example, ‘Thou shalt 
not covet,’ is a precept, by 
which we are all brought in 
guilty as sinners ; for there is 
no one that can be free from 
coveting, how much soever he 
may strive against it. And 
therefore, in order that he 
may be brought not to covet, 
and to fulfil the law, he is 
driven to despair in himself 
and to seek that help else- 
where, and in another, which 
he finds not in himself: as it 
is said in Hosea xiii, ‘O Is- 
rael, thy destruction is from 
thyself, and thy only help is 
in me.’ And the effect pro- 
duced by this one command- 
ment is produced by all the 
rest, for they are all alike im- 


_ possible unto us. 


When the man has been 
taught by the precepts his 
utter inability, and has be- 
come anxious to know in 
what way he can _ possibly 
satisfy the law (for the law 
must be satisfied, so that 
not one jot or tittle thereof 


‘fail, or he must be damned 


without hope), being then 
truly humbled and brought 
to nothing in his own eyes, 
he finds nothing in himself 
whereby he can become right- 
eous in order to be saved. 


348 


Hic altera Scripturae pars 
adest, promissa Dei, quae an- 
nunciant gloriam Dei, et di- 
cunt: Si vis legem implere, 
non concupiscere, sicut lex 
exigit, en tibi, crede in Chris- 
tum, in quo promittuntur tibi, 
eratiam, justitiam, pacem, li- 
bertatem, et omnia, si credis, 
habebis, si non credis, carebis. 
Nam quod tibi impossibile est 
in universis operibus legis, 
quae multa sunt et tamen 
inutilia, facili compendio im- 
plebis per fidem: quia Deus 
Pater omnia in fide posuit, ut, 
quisquis hance habuerit, omnia 
habeat, qui non habuerit, nihil 
habeat. Conclusit enim omnia 
sub incredulitate, ut omnium 
misereatur, Rom. xi. Sic pro- 
missa Dei hoe donant, quod 
praecepta exigunt, et implent, 
quod lex jubet, ut sint omnia 
solius Dei, tam praecepta et 
plenitudo eorum; ipse solus 
praecipit, solus quoque implet. 


Ideo promissa Dei pertinent 


NOTE 17. 


Then here eomes in to his 
help the other part of the 
Scripture, the promises of 
God, which bring the glad 
tidings of the glory of God, 
and say, if thou wouldst fulfil 
the law and not covet, as the 
law reqtiires, then hearken : 
Believe in Christ, in whom 
are promised unto thee grace, 
righteousness, peace, liberty, 
and all things. If thou be- 
lieve, thou shalt have all 
things ; if thou believe not, 
thou shalt have nothing. For 
all the commanded works of 
the law (which are impossible 
with thee, and which are in- 
numerable, and after all of no 
avail unto salvation) thou 
shalt fulfil by this ‘ short con- 
summate work ’~—by believ- 
ing! For God the Father 
hath included all things in 
faith. So that he who hath 
this hath all things, and he 
who hath not this hath no- 
thing. Because God hath in- 
cluded all things in unbelief, 
that He might have mercy 
upon all, Rom. xi. Thus the 
promises of God gives freely 
all that the precepts exact, 
and fulfil all that the law 
commands, that all may be of 
God only, both the precepts 
and their fulfilment. God 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


ad novum Testamentum, imo 


sunt novum Testamentum. 


Cum autem haec promissa 
Dei sint verba sancta, vera; 
justa, libera, pacata, et uni- 
versa bonitate plena, fit, ut 
anima, quae firma fide illis 
adhaeret, sic els uniatur, imo 
penitus absorbeatur, ut non 
modo participet, sed saturetur 
et inebrietur omni virtute 
eorum, Sienim tactus Christi 
sanabat, quanto magis hic 
tenerrimus in spiritu, imo ab- 
sorptio verbi omnia, quae verbi 
sunt, animae communicat ? 
Hoe igitur modo anima per 
fidem solam, sine operibus, e 
verbo Dei justificatur, sancti- 
ficatur, verificatur, pacificatur, 
liberatur et omni bono reple- 
tur, vereque filia Dei efficitur, 
sicut Johan. i. dicit: Dedit 
eis potestatem filios Dei fieri, 


lis qui credunt in nomine ejus, 


Ex uis facile est intellectu, 


349 


alone commands and God 
alone fulfils. Therefore the 
promises belong to the New 
Testament, and the New 
Testament indeed they are. 

And moreover, as these pro- 
mises are the words of God, 
holy, true, righteous, - free, 
peaceable, and full of all good, 
it comes to pass that the soul 
which cleaves to them with a 
steady faith is so united to 
them, yea wholly absorbed in 
them, that it not only partakes 
of, but is saturated and intoxi- 
cated with all their unctuous 
virtue. For if the touch of 
Christ healed, how much more 
shall the very absorbing of the 
unctuous spirit of the word 
into the tender soil of the soul 
communicate to the soul all 
the nature of that word! And 
it is in this manner that the 
soul, by faith alone, without 
any external works, is through 
the operation of the word of 
God, justified, sanctified, made 
true, settled in peace, set free, 
filled with all good, and made 
in reality the daughter of 
God, according to that saying, 
John i, ‘To them gave He 
power to become the sons of 
God, even unto them that be- 
lieve on His name.’ 

From these things it may 


350 


unde fides tantum possit, et 
cur nulla, nee omnia bona 
opera eam possint aequare : 
quia nullum opus adhaerere 
verbo Dei, nec in anima esse 
potest. Sola autem fides et 
verbum in ea regnant, quale 
est verbum, talis ab eo fit 
anima, ceu ferrum ignitum 
eandet sicut ignis, propter 
unionem sui et ignis, ut clarum 
sit, homini Christiano suam 
fidem sufficere pro omnibus, 
nec operibus ei opus fore, ut 
justificetur. Quod si operibus 
non habet opus, nec lege opus 
habet, si lege non habet opus, 
certe liber est a lege, verum- 
que est: Justo non est lex 
posita. Atque haec est Chris- 
tiana illa libertas, fides nostra, 
quae facit, non ut otiosi simus, 
aut male vivamus, sed ne cui- 
quam opus sit lege aut ope- 


ribus ad justitiam et salutem, 


NOTE 17. 


be plainly understood how it 
is that faith is of so much 
efficacy, and why no works, 
nor all good works together, 
are equal unto it. The reason 
is—no work can cleave to the 
word of God, nor have any in- 
dwelling in the soul. Faith 
and the word of God alone 
can have dominion there. And 
such as the word is in nature, 
into the same is the soul 
changed ; as iron put into the 
fire becomes like fire, through 
the nature of the fire to which 
it is united. 

It is clear therefore that 
the faith of a Christian man 
sufficeth for all things, and 
that he has no need of any 
works whatever unto justifi- 
cation. And then if he have 
no need of works, he has no 
need of the law; and if he 
have no need of the law he is 
certainly freed from the law ; 
and therefore it is true that 
‘the law was not made for a 


‘righteous man,’ 1 Tim.i. This 


then is that true Christian 
liberty, even our faith: which 
does not give us occasion to 
sit down at ease or live as we 
list, but is so ordained that no 
one might have any need of 
the law or of works unto 
righteousness and salvation. 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


Haec prima fidei virtus esto, 
alteram quoque videamus. Fi- 
dei enim et hoc officium est, 
ut eum, cui credit, omnium 
plissima et summa colat opi- 
nione, nempe, quod eum vera- 
cem et dignum habeat, cui 
eredendum sit; neque enim 
alius est honor similis veritatis 
et justitiae opinioni, qua hono- 
ramus eum, cui credimus. Quid 
possumus tribuere ulli majus, 
quam veritatem et justitiam 
et absolutam prorsus bonita- 
tem? LE diverso summa con- 
tumelia est, opinione mendacii 
et iniquitatis quemquam cele- 
brare, aut suspectum habere, 
quod facimus, dum non cre- 


dimus el. 


Sic anima, dum firmiter 
credit promittenti Deo, vera- 
cem et justum eum habet, qua 
opinione nihil potest Deo prae- 
stantius tribuere. Hic summus 
cultus Dei est, dedisse ei veri- 
tatem, justitiam et quidquid 


tribui debet ei, cui creditur. 


30] 


Let this be considered as 
the first power of faith. We 
will now speak of the second. 
For this also belongs to faith, 
to have the most high and holy 
thoughts of him in whom 
it believeth ; that is, to hold 
him as true and worthy to be 
trusted. Nor is there any 
honour equal unto that esti- 
mation of truth and justice in 
which we hold him in whom 
we fully confide. What can 
we ascribe unto any one more 
honourable than truth, justice, 
and completeand perfect good- 
ness? On the other hand, it 
is the greatest of all reproaches 
to speak of any one as a liar, 
and dishonest, or even to sus- 
pect him ; which we in reality 
do when we do not believe 
him, 


Thus the soul, while it sted- 
fastly believes in God promis- 
ing, holds Him to be true and 
just, than which opinion no 
greater homage can be paid 
Him. The highest worship of 
God is to ascribe unto Him 
truth, righteousness, and what- 
ever we would ascribe unto 
one in whom we fully confide ! 


392 


Hic paratam sese praebet in 
omnes voluntates ejus, hic 
sanctificat nomen ejus, et se- 
cum agi patitur, sicut placitum 
fuerit Deo. 


ejus inhaerens, non dubitat 


Quia promissis 


eum verum, justum, sapientem, 
omnia optime facturum, dis- 
positurum, curaturum. At 
nonne talis anima, hac fide 
sua, per omnia obedientissima 
Deo est? Quod ergo prae- 
ceptum est reliquum, quod 
talis obedientia non abunde 
impleverit? Quae plenitudo 
plenior, quam omnimoda obe- 
dientia? At hane non opera, 
sed sola fides praestat. 

Contra quae rebellio? quae 
impietas, quae contumelia Dei 
major, quam non credere pro- 
mittenti? Quid enim aliud 
est, quam Deum aut mendacem 
facere, aut dubitare veracem 
esse? hoe est, sibi veritatem 
tribuere, Deo autem menda- 
cium et vanitatem. In qua 


re nonne Deum negat, et se 


NOTE 17. 


This worshipper is prepared to 
do all the will of God; he 
sanctifies His name; he sub- 
mits himself to be dealt with 
as it shall seem pleasing unto 
God ; because he leans entirely 
upon His promises, not doubt- 
ing but that, as He is all 
truth, righteousness and wis- 
dom, He will manage, order, 
and do all things for the best. 
And does not such a soul by 
this his faith yield obedience 
unto God in all things? What 
precept is there which such an 
obedience does not abun- 
dantly fulfil? What ful- 
filment can be more perfect 
than universal obedience? 
And this obedience is really 
yielded, not by works but by 
faith only. 


f 


v 


On the other hand, what 
rebellion, what impiety must 
it be! What greater con- 
tempt can be put upon God 
than not to believe Him when 
He promises! What is it 
else but to hold Him a har, 
oratleastto doubt His truth!— 
That is, for a man to attribute 
truth unto himself, but lying 
and vanity unto God! In 
so doing does he not deny 
God altogether, and set up 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


ipsum sibi idolum in. corde 
erigit? Quid ergo prosunt 
opera in hac impietate facta, 
etiamsi angelica et apostolica 
forent? Recte ergo Deus, 
non in ira aut libidine, sed in 
incredulitate omnia conclusit, 
ne qui castis et mansuetis 
operibus legis fingunt se im- 
plere legem (ut sunt politicae 
et humanae virtutes) salvos se 
futuros praesumant, cum in 
peccato incredulitatis compre- 
hensi aut misericordiam quae- 
rant, aut per justitiam dam- 
nentur. 

Ubi autem Deus videt, ve- 


et fide 


cordis nostri se honorari tanto 


ritatem sibi tribui 
honore, quo ipse dignus est: 
rursus et ipse nos honorat, 
tribuens et nobis veritatem et 
justitiam, propter hance fidem. 
Fides enim facit veritatem et 
justitiam, reddens Deo suum, 
ideo rursus reddit Deus justi- 
tiae nostrae gloriam. Verum 


est enim et justum, Deum 


353 


himself in his heart for a self- 
worshipping idol? And what 
think ye works can avail done 
in this impious state of heart, 
be they never so evangelical 
and apostolical ? Righteously 
therefore hath God included 
all, not in wrath, not in lust, 
but in wnxbelief, lest those who 
imagine that they fulfil the 
law by their chaste and kind 
works of the law (which are 
at best but moral or political 
virtues) should presume to 
expect that they should be 
therefore saved when they are 
all the while included under 
the sin of unbelief, and must 
either seek the mercy or be 
damned by the justice of 
God! 


But when God sees that 
truth is ascribed unto Him, 
and that He is honoured by 
the faith of our heart with all 
that honour which is due unto 
Him ; Hein return honours us 
by imputing unto us truth and 
righteousness because of this 
faith only. For it is faith that 
makes truth and righteous- 
ness, by ascribing unto God 
His own; and in return God 
rewards that our righteousness 
with glory. For it is true 
and just to hold God true and 
just; and to ascribe this unto 


Aa 


354 


esse veracem et justum, et hoc 
ei tribuere et confiteri, hoc est, 
esse veracem et justum. Sic 
1 Ree. v: Quicunque honori- 
ficat me, glorificabo eum, qui 
vero contemnunt me, erunt 
ignobiles. Sic Paulus Rom. 
iv. Abrahae dicit, suam fidem 
esse reputatam in justitiam, 
quia per eam dedit plenissime 
gloriam Deo, et nobis eadem 
causa reputandamadjustitiam, 
si crediderimus. 

Tertia fide gratia incom- 
parabilis est haee, quod ani- 
mam copulat cum Christo, 
sicut sponsam cum sponso, quo 
Sacramento (ut apostolus do- 
cet) Christus et anima effici- 
untur una caro. Quod si una 
caro sunt, verum inter eos 
matrimonium, imo omnium 
longe perfectissimum consum- 
matur (cum humana matri- 
monia hujus unici figurae sint 
tenues); sequitur et omnia 


eorum communia fieri, tam 


bona quam mala, ut, quaecun- 


NOTE 17. 


Him and confess it is to be 
true and just, according to 
1 Sam. 11, ‘ Whosoever hon- 
oureth me, I will glorify him, 
but they that despise me shall 
be accounted nought.’ So 
Paul, Rom. iv, saith of Abra- 
ham, that his faith was counted 
unto him for righteousness, 
because by it he gave glory to 
God; and it shall, for the 
same reason, be imputed unto 
us for righteousness also, if 
we believe. 


The third power of this 
most precious faith is that 
which couples the soul to 
Christ as a spouse to her 
husband; by which sacred 
union, as Paul teacheth, Christ 
and the soul are made one 
flesh; and if they be one 
flesh, and there be a true 
marriage, yea by far the most 
perfect of all marriages, con- 
summated between them (for 
all human marriages are but 
the faintest representation of 
this), then it follows that all 
which belongs to each, both 
good and evil, becomes com- 
mon to both. So that what- 
ever Christ possesses, the 
believing soul may lay claim 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


que Christus habet, de 1s tan- 
quam sui praesumere et glo- 
riari possit fidelis anima, et, 


quaecunque animae sunt, ea 


sibi arroget Christus tanquam 


sua, 

Conferamus ista, et vide- 
bimus inaestimabilia, Christus 
plenus est gratia, vita et salute, 
anima plena est peccatis, morte 
et damnatione. Intercedat jam 
fides, et fiet, ut Christi sint 
peccata, mors et infernus, ani- 
mae vero gratia, vita et salus. 
Oportet enim eum, si sponsus 
est, ea simul, quae sponsa 
habet, acceptare, et ea, quae 
sua sunt, sponsae impartire. 
Qui enim corpus suum et se 
ipsum illi donat, quaomodo non 
omnia sua donat? Et qui 
corpus sponsae accipit, quo- 
modo non omnia, quae sponsae 


sunt, accipit ? 


Hic jam dulcissimum spec- 
taculum prodit, non solum 
salutaris 


communionis, sed 


355 


to and glory in as her own; 
and whatever belongs to the 
soul Christ takes upon Himself 
as His. 


Now let us only meditate 
on these things compared 
together, and we shall find 
them tobe unspeakable. Christ 
is full of grace, life, and salva- 
tion; the soul is full of sin, 
death, and damnation. Here 
let faith come in_ between, 
and it shall come to pass that 
the sin, death and hell are laid 
upon Christ, and His grace, 
life and salvation made the 
portion of the soul. For He 
as the husband must take 
unto Himself, together with 
the spouse, all that she brings 
with her, and impart unto 
her all that He possesses. For 
He who freely gives her His 
body and Himself, how can He 
not give her all things that are 
His? And He who takes unto 
Himself the body of Hisspouse, 
how can He not take with her 
all things that are hers? 

Here then is brought to 
light a most sweet view, not 
of communion only, but of a 
saving warfare, of victory, of 


Aa 2 


356 


belli et victoriae et salutis et 
redemptionis. Cum enim 
Christus sit Deus et homo, 
eaque persona, quae nec pec- 
cavit nec moritur, nec dam- 
natur, sed nec peccare, mor, 
damnari potest, ejusque justi- 
tia, vita, salus, insuperabilis, 
aeterna, omnipotens est: cum, 
inquam, talis persona peccata, 
mortem, infernum  sponsae 
propter annulum fidei sibi 
communia, imo propria facit, 
et in lis non aliter se habet, 
quam si sua essent, ipseque 
peccasset, laborans, moriens, 
et ad infernum descendens, ut 
omnia superaret, peccatumque, 
mors et infernus eum absor- 
bere non possent, necessario 
in ipso absorpta sunt stupendo 
duello. Nam justitia sua om- 
nium peccatis superior, vita 
sua omni morte potentior, 
salus sua omni inferno invic- 
tior. 

Ita fit anima fidelis, per 
arram fidei suae in Christo 
sponso suo, omnibus peccatis 


libera, a morte secura, et ab 


NOTE 17. 


salvation,and redemption. For 
since Christ is God and man, 
and such a person as never 
has sinned, never dies, nor is 
damned, nay never can sin, 
die, or be damned ; and since 
His righteousness, life, and 
salvation are unconquerable, 
eternal, and omnipotent; since, 
I say, such a person has by 
the wedding ring of faith, 
made the sin, death, and 
hell of His spouse common 
to Himself, yea His own, and 
acts and suffers under them 
as if they were His own, and 
as 1f He Himself had sinned, 
labouring, dying, and descend- 
ing into hell, that He may 
overcome them all; and since 
sin, death, and hell could not 
swallow up Him, it is of neces- 
sity certain that in the stu- 
pendous conflict they are all 
swallowed up by Him. For His 
righteousness is greater than 
all sin, His life is stronger 
than all death, His salvation 
more powerful than all hell. 


Thus the believing soul, 
by the pledge of faith in Christ 
her spouse, becomes free from 
all sins, secure from death, 
safe from hell, and endowed 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


inferno tuta, donata aeterna 
justitia, vita, salute sponsi sui 
Christi. Sic exhibet sibi spon- 
sam sine macula et ruga, glo- 
riosam, mundans eam lavacro 
in verbo vitae, id est, per fidem 
verbi, vitae, justitiae et salutis. 
Sic sponsat eam sibi in fide, in 
misericordia et miserationibus, 
in justitia et judicio, ut Hos. 
i. dicit. 

Quis ergo has nuptias re- 
Quis 


divitias gloriae gratiae hujus 


gales satis aestimet? 


comprehendat ? ubi dives et 
pius hie sponsus Christus ducit 
uxorem hance pauperculam, im- 
piam meretriculam, redimens 
eam ab omnibus illius malis, 
et ornans omnibus suis bonis. 
Jam enim impossibile est, ut 
peccata sua eam perdant, cum 
super Christum posita sint, et 
in ipso absorpta, habeatque 
ipsa eam justitiam in Christo 
sponso suo, de qua ut sua pro- 


pria praesumat, et adversus 


357 


with the eternal righteousness, 
life, and salvation of her 
husband Christ. Thus Christ 
presents unto Himself a spouse 
without spot or wrinkle, and 
all elorious through Hiscleans- 
ing her with the washing in 
the word of life, that is by 
faith in the word of life, 
righteousness, and salvation. 
And thus He betroths her unto 
Himself in faith, in mercy, in 
loving-kindness, in righteous- 
ness, and in judgment, as 


Hosea saith (ch. ii). 


Who then can fully enter 
into the greatness of this royal 
marriage? Who can com- 
prehend the riches of the glory 
of this grace, where this rich 
and holy husband Christ takes 
unto wife this poor miser- 
able, sinful harlot, redeeming 
her from all her evils and 
adorning her with all His 
saving benefits? It is im- 
possible now that her sins 
should destroy her, for they 
have all been laid upon Christ, 
and swallowed up in Him; 
and she has that righteousness 
in Christ her husband which 
she may glory in as her own, 
and may with confidence set 
against all her sins, yea against 
death and hell, and say, If 
I have sinned, yet my Christ 


008 


omnia peccata sua, contra 
mortem et infernum, possit 
cum fiducia illam opponere et 
dicere: Si ego peccavi, at 
Christus meus non peccavit, 
in quem credo, cuius omnia 
mea sunt, et omnia mea illius, 
Dilectus 


meus mihi, et ego illi, hoe est, 


sicut in Canticis: 
quod Paulus dicit 1 Corinth. 
xv: Deo gratias, qui dedit 
nobis victoriam per Jesum 
Christum; Dominum nostrum, 
victoriam autem peccati et 
illic 


Peccatum stimulus mortis est, 


mortis, sicut inducit : 


virtus vero peccati lex. 


Ex ius iterum intelligis, qua 
causa tantum tribuatur fidei, 
ut sola impleat legem, et sine 
ullis operibus justificet. Vides 
enim primum praeceptum, quo 
dicitur: Unum Deum coles, 
sola fide impleri. Si enim 
etiam ipse aliud non esses a 


planta pedis ad verticem, quam 


bona opera, non tamen justus 


NOTE 17. 


has not sinned, in whom I 
believe, all whose are mine 
and mine are His: as in the 
Canticles, ‘My beloved is mine 
and [am His.” This is what 
Paul saith, 1 Cor. xv: ‘Thanks 
be unto God, who giveth us 
the victory through Jesus 
Christ our Lord;’ that 1s, 
the victory over sin and death, 
as he there shews, ‘ The sting 
of death is sin,and the strength 
of sin is the law.’ 


From these things you may 
again understand why it is that 
so much is attributed unto 
faith, that it alone fulfils the 
law and justifies without any 
works whatever. For you see 
that the first commandment, 
in which it is said, ‘Thou shalt 
worship one God,’ can be ful- 
filled only byfaith. For if thou 
thyself wert nothing else but 
good works from the sole of 
the foot even unto the head, 
yet thou wouldst not be 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


esses, nec Deum coleres, nec 
primum praeceptum impleres, 
cum Deus coli non possit, nisi 
tribuatur ei veritas et univer- 
sae bonitatis gloria, sicut vere 
tribuenda est. Hoc autem 
opera non faciunt, sed sola 
fides cordis. Non enim ope- 


rando, sed credendo Deum 
glorificamus et veracem con- 
fitemur. Hoc nomine fides 
sola est justitia Christiani ho- 
minis, et omnium praecep- 
torum plenitudo. Qui enim 
primum implet, cetera omnia 


facili opera implet. 
** *K *K *K 


Cujus enim cor haec audiens 
non totis medullis gaudeat et 
tanto solatio accepto non dul- 
cescat in amorem Christi? ad 
quem amorem nullis unquam 
legibus aut operibus pervenire 
potest. Quis est, qui tali 
cordi nocere possit, aut ipsum 
pavefaciat? Si irruat con- 
scientia peceati, aut horror 


mortis, paratum est sperare in 


359 


righteous, nor wouldst thou 
worship God nor fulfil the 
first commandment. For God 
cannot be worshipped unless 
there be ascribed unto Him 
truth and the glory of all 
goodness, as they ought to 
be ascribed ; and this no works 
ean do, but the faith of the 
heart only. For it is not by 
working but by believing that 
we glorify God and confess 
Him to be true. On this 
account it is that faith alone 
is the righteousness of a Chris- 
tian man and the fulfilment 
of all the commandments ; for 
he who fulfils this first com- 
mandment fulfils all the rest 
without any laborious work- 
ing. 


* * * * 


And whose heart hearing 
these things is not all glad- 
ness within, and sweetened, 
under the enjoyed consolation, 
into the love of Christ? To 
which love he never can attain 
by any law of works. And 
who is there that can hurt 
such an heart or cause such 
an one to fear? If conscious- 
ness of sin or the horror of 
death should rush upon him, 
he is prepared to hope in the 
Lord; nor is he afraid nor 


360 


Domino, nec timet ab audi- 
tione ista mala, nec commo- 
vetur, donec despiciat inimicos 
suos. Credit enim justitiam 
Christi suam esse et peccatum 
suum jam non suum, sed 
Christi esse, at a facie justi- 
tiae Christi omne peccatum 
absorbeatur, necesse est prop- 
ter fidem Christi, sicut supe- 
rius dictum est, discitque cum 
apostolo morti et peccato in- 
Ubi est 
Ubi est 


mors stimulus tuus? Stimu- 


sultare et dicere: 


mors victoria tua? 


lus autem mortis peccatum 
est, virtus vero peccati lex. 
Deo autem gratias, qui dedit 
nobis victoriam per Jesum 
Christum Dominum nostrum. 
Absorpta enim est mors in 
victoria, non tantum Christi, 
sed et nostra, quia per fidem 
nostram fit et in ipsa et nos 
vincimus. 

Haee dicta sint de interiore 
homine, de ejus libertate et de 


principe justitia fidei, quae nec 


NOTE 17. 


moved at these evil tidings, 
‘until he see his desire upon 
his enemies,’ Psalm exii. For 
he believes that the righteous- 
ness of Christ is his, and that 
his sin is no longer his but 
Christ’s. And all sin must 
be swallowed up before the 
face of the righteousness of 
Christ, by faith in Him, as 
we have before observed. Thus 
he learns with the Apostle to 
triumph over death and sin, 
and say, ‘O grave, where is 
thy victory ? O death, where 
is thy sting? The sting of 
death is sin and the strength 
of sin is the law; but thanks 
be to God which giveth us the 
victory through Jesus Christ 
our. Lord =) Coraxyaeseur 
death is swallowed up in 
victory ;’ not in the victory 
of Christ only, but ours also ; 
for it becomes ours by faith, 
and in it we also conquer. 


Suffice it to have spoken 
thus concerning the zaward 
man, his liberty and his 
glorious righteousness by faith, 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


legibus nec operibus bonis in- 
diget, quin noxia ei sunt, si 
quis per ea praesumat justifi- 
carl. 

Nune ad alteram partem 
revertamur ad externum ho- 
minem. Hic enim responde- 
bitur illis omnibus, qui verbo 
fidei et iis, quae dicta sunt, 
offensi dicunt: Si fides omnia 
facit, et sola ad justitiam sa- 
tis est, cur ergo praecepta 
sunt bona opera? otiabimur 
ergo et nihil operabimur, fide 
contenti? Respondeo: Non 
sic, impli, non sic. Vere qui- 
dem sic haberet res ista, si 
penitus et perfecte interni et 
spirituales essemus, quod non 
fiet, nisi in novissimo die re- 
surrectionis mortuorum; do- 
nec 1n carne vivimus, non nisi 
incipimus et proficimus, quod 
in futura vita perficietur ; 
propter quod apostolus Rom. 
vill. appellat primitias spiri- 
tus, quod in hac vita habemus, 


accepturi scilicet decimas et 


361 


which needs neither laws nor 
good works; nay, they tend 
to the destruction of any one 
who should presume to be 
justified by them. 

Now let us come to the 
other part of our subject, 
the outward man. Here an 
answer shall be given to all 
those who, being offended at 
the word faith, and all that 
is said to exalt it, say, ‘If 
faith do all things, and alone 
suffice unto righteousness, why 
then are good works com- 
manded? Contented with faith 
therefore let us be at rest and 
do no works at all.’ I answer, 
‘Not so, ye ungodly, not 
so!’ This would indeed be 
the case if we were renewed 
altogether, and perfectly and 
wholly spiritual. But this will 
not be till in the last day of 
the resurrection of the dead. 
As long as we live in the 
flesh, we only begin, and grow 
a little in that which is to be 
perfected in the life to come. 
And therefore it is that the 
Apostle, Rom. viii, calls that 
which we have in this life, 
‘the first-fruits of the Spirit,’ 
intimating that we shall re- 
ceive the tithes and fulness 
of the Spirit in the life which 
is to come. 


362 


plenitudinem spiritus in fu- 
turo. Ad hance partem per- 
tinet, quod supra positum est, 
Christianum esse omnium ser- 
vum et omnibus subjectum. 
Qua enim parte liber est, nihil 
operatur, qua autem servus 


est, omnia operatur, quod qua 


ratione fiat, videamus. 


Quamquam homo, ut dixi, 
intus secundum spiritum per 
fidem abunde satis justificetur, 
habens quidquid habere debet, 
nisi quod hance ipsam fidem et 
opulentiam oportet de die in 
diem augescere, usque in fu- 
turam vitam, tamen manet in 
hac vita mortali super terram, 
In qua necesse est, ut corpus 
suum proprium regat, et cum 
Hie 


jam incipiunt opera, hic non 


hominibus conversetur, 


est otiandum, hic certe curan- 
dum, ut corpus jejuniis, vigi- 
liis, laboribus aliisque disci- 
plinis moderatis exerceatur, et 
spiritui subdatur, ut homini 


interiori et fidei obediat et 


NOTE 17. 


To this part of our subject 
therefore belongs that which 
we laid down at the beginning 
as our second proposition :— 
‘The Christian man is the 
most dutiful servant of all, 
subject to all.’ For as to his 
spirit, which is free, he worketh 
not; but as to his body, in 
which he is subject, he worketh 
all things; and how this is 
let us now consider. 

Althoughthe Christian man, 
as I have shewn, is inwardly 
as to his spirit, fully and 
abundantly justified by faith, 
having all that he needs to 
have (except that this abund- 
antly filling faith itself must 
be increased day by day, even 
unto the life to come), yet he 
still remains in this mortal 
life upon earth, in which he 
must of necessity govern his 
own body and have intercourse 
with men. Now here begin 
good works. Here is no sitting 
down at ease. Here certainly 
begins a care that the body, 
by fastings, watchings, labour- 
ings, and other moderate disci- 
pline, be exercised and brought 
into subjection to the spirit ; 
so that it may obey and be 
conformable to the inward 
man, and to faith, and may 
not rebel or hinder; which it 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


conformis sit, nec ei rebellet 
aut ipsum impediat, sicut est 
ingenium ejus, si coercitus 
non fuerit. Interior enim 
homo conformis Deo et ad 
Imaginem Dei creatus per 
fidem et gaudet et jucundatur 
propter Christum, in quo tanta 
sibi collata sunt bona, unde et 
hoe solum negotii sibi habet, 
ut cum gaudio et gratis Deo 
serviat in libera caritate. 

Hoc dum agit, ecce in carne 
propria offendit voluntatem 
contrariam, quae mundo ser- 
vire et quaerere, quae sua sunt, 
nititur, 1d quod spiritus fidei 
ferre non potest neque valet, 
et agereditur hilari studio ad 
opprimendam et coercendam 
eam, sicut Paulus dicit Rom. 
vii: Condelector legi Dei, 
secundum interiorem homi- 
nem; video autem aliam legem 
in membris meis repugnantem 
legi mentis meae et captivan- 


tem me in legem peccati. Et 


alibi: Castigo corpus meum, 


363 


is its nature to do if it be not 
restrained. For the inner 
man being by faith created 
conformable to God and after 
the image of God, joys and 
takes pleasure in him through 
Christ,in whom such a treasure 
of all good is laid up for him ; 
and therefore all his concern 
is that he may be enabled 
eladly and willingly to serve 
God in the freedom of love. 


While he strives to do this, 
behold, he offends a contrary 
will in his own flesh, which 
lusts to serve the world and 
fulfil its own desires. And 
this the spirit of faith cannot 
endure and will not; and there- 
fore it struggles with ardent 
desire to repress and restrain 
it; accordingly as Paul saith, 
Rom, vii, ‘I delight in the 
law of God after the inward 
man, but I see another law 
in my members. warring 
against the law of my mind, 
and bringing me intocaptivity 
to the law of sin in my mem- 
bers.’ And soalso in another 
place, ‘ But I keep under my 
body and bring it into subjec- 
tion, lest after I have preached 


364 


et in servitutem redigo, ne 
forte aliis praedicans ipse re- 
probus efficiar: et Gal. v: 
Qui Christi sunt, carnem suam 
erucifixerunt cum concupis- 
centiis suis. 

Verum ea opera oportet non 
ea fieri opinione, quo per ipsa 
coram Deo justificetur quis- 
quam, hane enim falsam opi- 
nionem fides non feret, quae 
sola est justitia coram Deo, 
sed solum-ea opinione, ut cor- 
pus in servitutem redigatur, 
et purificetur a concupiscen- 
tiis suis malis, ita ut oculum 
non nisi vertat ad concupis- 
centias expurgandas. Cum 
enim anima per fidem purgata 
sit et amans Dei facta, vellet 
omnia pariter purgari, prae- 
cipue corpus proprium, ut om- 
nia secum amarent et lauda- 
rent Deum. Ita fit, ut homo 
exigente corporis sui causa 
otiari non possit, cogaturque 
ob id multa bona operari, ut 


in servitutem redigat. Haec 


NOTE 17. 


to others I myself should be a 
castaway.’ And again, Gal. v, 
‘They who are Christ’s have 
crucified the flesh with the 
affections and lusts.’ 


But these works are not to 
be done with this opinion, that 
by them anyone may become 
righteous before God ; for this 
false opinion faith will not 
endure, which alone is right- 
eousness before God ; but they 
are to be done with this view 
only, that the body might be 
brought into subjection and 
purified from its lusts, so that 
its eye might never be so 
much as turned but with a 
desire to shun concupiscence. 
For as the soul is purified by 
faith and made to love God, 
it would that all things were 
purified together with it, 
especially its own body, that 
all things might join with it 
in loving and praising God. 
Hence it is that the man, 
from the urgent necessity 
which he feels in his own 
body, can never be at ease, 
but is compelled on that ac- 
count to do many good works 
in order to bring his body 
into subjection. And yet he 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


tamen opera ipsa non id sunt, 
quo justificetur coram Deo, 
sed gratuito amore ea faciat 
in obsequium Dei, nihil aliud 
intutus quam divinum bene- 
placitum, cui per omnia vellet 
obsequi officiosissime. 


* * * * 


Non ergo opera bona reji- 
cimus, imo maxime amplec- 
timur et docemus. Non enim 
propter ipsa, sed propter im- 
pium hoe additamentum et 
perversam opinionem quae- 
rendae justitiae, ea damnamus. 
Qua fit, ut solum in specie 
appareant bona, cum revera 
bona non sint, quibus fallun- 
tur et fallunt, ceu lupi rapaces 
sub vestimentis ovium. 

Hic autem Leviathan et 
perversa opinio in operibus 
insuperabilis est, ubi deest 
sincera fides, Abesse enim 
non potest a sanctis illis ope- 
rariis, donee fides vastatrix 
ejus veniat et regnet in corde. 


Natura per se ipsam non po- 


365 


does not look upon these works 
as making him righteous be- 
fore God, but he does them in 
the freedom of love in obe- 
dience to God, having nothing 
else in view but the divine good 


- pleasure, to which he would 


be most dutifully conformed 
in all things. 


* * * * 


We do not therefore reject 
good works, but on the con- 
trary we strenuously maintain 
and teach them ; for we do not 
condemn the works for them- 
selves, but for that impiously 
added false opinion of seek- 
ing righteousness by them, 
by which they are made to 
have the appearance of good 
only, when in reality they are 
not good; and thus by them 
men are deceived themselves 
and deceive others, as ravenous 
wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

And this devil, this perverse 
opinion concerning works, 
where there is no real faith, 
is insuperable; for it cannot 
be beaten out of those holy 
workmen until faith its de- 
stroyer come and plant its 
kingdom in the heart. Nature 
herself cannot drive it out, 
nor even know what it is; 
nay, she considers it to be a 


366 


test eam expellere, imo ne 
cognoscere quidem, quin eam 
ducit loco sanctissimae volun- 
tatis. 


cesserit, et hance naturae pra- 


Ubi si consuetudo ac- 
vitatem roboraverit (sicuti 
factum est per impios magis- 
tros), incurabile malum est, et 
infinitos irrecuperabiliter se- 
ducit ac perdit. Quare etsi 
bonum est, de poenitentia, 
confessione, satisfactione prae- 
dicare et scribere, si tamen 
hic sistatur, et non ad fidem 
usque docendam procedatur, 
sine dubio deceptoriae et dia- 
Sic 


enim Christus cum suo Jo- 


bolicae sunt doctrinae. 


hanne non solum dixit: Poe- 
nitentiam agite, sed addidit 
verbum fidei dicens: Appro- 
pinquabit regnum coelorum. 
Non enim alterum tantum, 
sed utrumque verbum Dei 
praedicandum est, nova et 
vetera proferenda de thesauro, 
tam vox legis, quam verbum 


gratiae. Vocem legis proferri 


NOTE 17. 


most holy and obedient will. 
And where custom has long 
prevailed and confirmed this 
depravity of nature (as is the 
case under wicked teachers) 
it is an evil incurable and 
seduces and sends thousands 
to irremediable  perdition. 
Wherefore although it is 
good to preach and write of 
repentance, confession, and 
satisfaction ; yet, if there be 
a stopping here and no going 
on to teach faith, these doc- 
trines are without doubt de- 
lusive and devilish. Hence 
Christ, together with His 
servant John, not only said, 
‘Repent ye, but added the 
word of faith, saying, ‘ The 
king-dom of heaven is at hand.’ 

For not one part of God’s 
word only, but both must be 
preached ; new as well as old 
must be brought forth out of 
the treasure, the voice of the 
law as well as the word of 
grace. The voice of the law 
must be sounded forth that 
men may be alarmed and 
brought to a knowledge of 
their sins, and then converted 
unto repentance and newness 
of life. But there must not 
be a stopping here ; for that 
would be to wound without 
binding up, to smite without 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


oportet, ut terreantur, et in 
suorum peccatorum notitiam 
reducantur, et inde ad poeni- 
tentiam et meliorem 


Sed 


non hic sistendum, hoc enim 


rationem convertantur. 


esset solum vulnerare et non 
alligare, percutere et non sa- 
nare, occidere et non vivifi- 
care, deducere ad inferos et 
non reducere, humiliare et non 
exaltare. Ideo et verbum gra- 
tiae et promissae remissionis, 
ad docendam et erigendam 
fidem, praedicari debet, sine 
quo lex, contritio, poenitentia, 
et omnia alia frustra fiunt et 


docentur. 


Supersunt quidem adhue 
praedicatores poenitentiae et 
eratiae, sed non explicant Dei 
legem et promissionem eo fine 
et spiritu, ut disci queat, unde 
poenitentia et gratia veniant, 
Poenitentia enim ex lege Dei, 
sed fides seu gratia ex pro- 
missione Dei provenit, sicut 


dicit Rom. x: Fides ex auditu, 


vitae . 


367 


healing, to kill without making 
alive, to bring down to the 
gates of hell and not to raise 
up, to cast down without ex- 
alting. Therefore the word 
of grace and of the promise 
of remission of sins must be 
preached to teach and build 
up faith, without which the 
law, contrition, repentance, 
and everything else will be 
taught and wrought in vain. 


There still remain, indeed, 
preachers of repentance and 
grace, but they do not set 
forth the law of God and the 
promise in that way, and with 
that spirit, that their hearers 
may learn whence repentance 
and grace come ; for repentance 
comes by the law, but faith 
or grace by the promise of 
God; as the Apostle saith, 
Rom. x, ‘ Faith cometh by 
hearing, and hearing by the 


368 


auditus autem per verbum 
Christi, quo fit, ut homo per 
fidem divinae promissionis 
consoletur et exaltetur, qui 
per minas et timorem legis 
divinae humiliatus et in sui 
cognitionem perductus est. 
Sic Psal. xxix: Ad _ vespe- 
rum demorabitur fletus, et ad 


Haec 


dicta sint de operibus in ge- 


matutinum laetitia. 


nere, et simul de lis, quae 
Christianus in proprium cor- 
pus exercet. 

Ultimo et de iis dicemus, 
quae erga proximum suum 
operatur ; non enim homo sibi 
vivit soli in corpore isto mor- 
tali ad operandum in eo, sed 
et omnibus hominibus in terra, 
imo solum aliis vivit et non 
sibi. In hoe enim corpus 
suum subjectum facit, quo sin- 
cerius et liberius queat aliis 
servire, sicut Paulus Rom. xiy, 
dicit : Nemo sibi vivit et nemo 
sibi moritur, qui enim vivit, 


Domino vivit, et qui moritur, 


NOTE 17. 


word of Christ.’ Hence it is 
that the man who, by the 
threatenings and fear of the 
divine law, is brought low 
and cast down into the know- 
ledge of himself, 1s comforted 
and raised up by faith in the 
divine promise, as in Psalm 
xxx, ‘ Weeping shall endure 
until the night, and joy until 
the morning.’ So far have 
we spoken concerning works 
in general, and those also 
which the Christian works in 
his own body. 


We will now in the last 
place speak of those works 
which he works towards 
his neighbour. For man does 
not live for himself alone 
in this mortal body, and 
to work in it only, but he 
lives for all men upon the 
earth ; yea, he lives for others 
only and not for himself, for 
he brings his body into sub- 
jection to the very end that 
he may be able to serve others 
more sincerely and more 
freely, as Paul saith, Rom. 
xiv, ‘ None of us liveth unto 
himself, and no man dieth 
unto himself; for he that 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY, 


Domino moritur. Ideo non 
potest fieri, ut sit otiosus in 
hac vita et absque opere erga 
proximos suos. Necesse est 
enim, ut loquatur, agat et 
conversetur cum hominibus, 
sicut Christus in similitudinem 
factus habitu inventus est ut 
homo, et conversatus cum ho- 


minibus, ut Baruch iii. dicit. 


Nullo tamen horum opus ei 
est ad justitiam et salutem, 
ideo in omnibus operibus suis 
ea debet opinione esse forma- 
tus, et huc solum spectare, ut 
aliis serviat et prosit in omni- 
bus, quaecunque fecerit, nihil 
ante oculos habens, nisi ne- 
cessitatem et commoditatem 
proximi. Sic enim Apostolus 
jubet, ut manibus laboremus, 
quo demus necessitatem ha- 
benti, cum potuisset dicere, 
quo nos ipsos alamus, sed det, 
inquit, necessitatem habenti. 
Nam et in hoc ipsum corporis 
curam habere Christianum 


est, quo per ejus salutem et 


369 


liveth liveth unto the Lord, 


‘ and he that dieth dieth unto 


the Lord.’ And therefore it 
is impossible that he can live 
at ease in this life, and with- 
out doing works toward his 
neighbours; for he must of 
necessity converse, act, and 
have intercourse with men, 
even as Christ was made in 
our likeness, and found in 
fashion as a man, and had 
intercourse with man, as 
Baruch ui. saith. 

But yet he has no need of 
these things unto righteous- 
ness and salvation. Therefore 
in all his works he ought to 
be in this mind, and to have 
only this view—that in all 
things whatever he does he 
serve and profit others, having 
nothing before his eyes but 
the necessity and profit of his 
neighbour. For thus the 
Apostle commands us_ to 
labour with our hands, ‘ that 
we may have to give to 
him that needeth.’ Whereas 
he might have said, that 
we may have wherewith to 
nourish ourselves ; but no: he 
saith also ‘him that needeth.’ 
For it is a part of Christianity 
to take care of the body for 
this very end, that by its 
health and powers we may 


Bb 


370 


commoditatem laborare, res 
quaerere et servare possimus, 
in subsidium eorum, qui indi- 
gent, ut sic membrum robus- 
tum serviat membro infirmo, 
et simus filii Dei, alter pro 
altero sollicitus et laboriosus, 
invicem onera portantes, et 
sic lexem Christi implentes. 

Ecce, haee est vere Chris- 
tiana vita, hic vere fides eff- 
cax est per dilectionem, hoc 
est, cum gaudio et dilectione 
prodit in opus servitutis liber- 
rimae, qua alteri gratis et 
sponte servit, ipsa abunde sa- 
tura fidei suae plenitudine et 
opulentia. 

Sic Philippenses cum Pau- 
lus docuisset, quam divites 
facti essent per fidem Christi, 
in qua omnia obtinuissent, 
docet eos deinceps dicens: Si 
qua consolatio Christi, si quod 
solatium caritatis, si qua so- 
cietas spiritus, implete gau- 
dium meum, ut idem sapiatis, 


et eandem caritatem habentes 


NOTE 17, 


labour, earn, and lay up that 
which may supply the neces- 
sity of those who are in need ; 
that thus the member that is 
strong may serve the member 
that is weak ; that we may be 
the sons of God, feeling and 
labouring for each other, bear- 
ing each other’s burdens and 
so fulfilling the law of Christ. 


Behold, this is the true 
Christian life. Here is the 
true ‘ faith which worketh by 
love,’ that is, which goes forth 
with joy and delight in the 
work of ‘ perfect freedom ; ’ it 
serves its neighbours freely 
and spontaneously, because its 
own treasure is richly filled, - 
with the overflowing abun- 
dance which it possesses by 
faith. 

Hence Paul, when he had 
made it evident to the Philip- 
pians how rich they were by 
the faith of Christ, in which 
they had possession of all 
things, goes on to admonish 
them, saying, ‘If therefore 
there be any consolation in 
Christ, if any comfort of love, 
if any fellowship of the spirit, 
fulfil ye my joy; that ye be 
like minded, having the same 
love, being of one accord, of 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY, 


unanimes id ipsum sentientes, 
nihil per contentionem, neque 
inanem gloriam, sed in humi- 
litate superiores invicem arbi- 
trantes, non quae sua sunt 
singuli considerantes, sed ea, 
quae aliorum. 

Hic clare videmus, vitam 
Christianorum ab Apostolo in 
hane regulam esse positam, 
ut omnia opera nostra ad ali- 
orum commoditatem ordinen- 
tur, cum per fidem quisque 
suam sic abundet, ut omnia 
alia opera, totaque vita el 
superfluant, quibus proximo 
spontanea benevolentia serviat 
et benefaciat. 

Ad hoe inducit Christum 
Hoe 


sentite in vobis, quod et in 


pro exemplo, dicens: 


Christo Jesu, qui, cum in 
forma Dei esset, non rapinam 
arbitratus est, esse se aequalem 
Deo, sed exinanivit semet 
ipsum, formam servi accipiens 
in similitudinem hominum 


factus, et habitu inventus ut 


371 


one mind; doing nothing 
through contention or vain 
glory, but each in humble- 
mindedness esteeming other 
better than himself, and each 
considering not his own things 
but the things of another.’ 
Here we see plainly that the 
Christian life is by the 
Apostle made to consist in 
this, directing all our works 
for the benefit of others ; be- 
cause each one so abounds by 
his faith that all his other 
works, yea, his life itself, are 
but superabounding: blessings 
which he may devote with 
spontaneous benevolence to 
the service and benefit of his 
neighbour, 

He then moreover brings 
forward Christ as an example, 
saying, ‘ Let this mind be in 
you which was also in Christ 
Jesus; who being in the form 
of God, thought it not robbery 
to be equal with God. Never- 
theless He made Himself of no 
reputation, and took upon Him 
the form of a servant, and was 
made in the likeness of men ; 
and being found in fashion as 
a man He became obedient 
unto death.’ This most health- 
ful admonition has been ob- 
scured from us by those who, 
not at all understanding these 


Bb2 


372 


homo, factus est obediens us- 
que ad mortem. Hoc enim 
verbum Apostoli saluberri- 
mum nobis obscurarunt 11, qui 
vocabula apostolica, formam 
Dei, formam servi, habitum, 
similitudinem hominum, pror- 
sus non intellexerunt, et ad 
naturas divinitatis et humani- 
tatis transtulerunt, cum Paulus 
id velit, Christum, cum esset 
plenus forma Dei, et omnibus 
bonis abundans, ita ut nullo 
opere, nulla passione indigu- 
erit, ut justus et salvus fieret, 
habebat’ enim haeec omnia 
statim ab initio sui, non 
tamen lis inflabatur, nee super 
nos elevabatur, et quandam 
potentiam super nos sibi ar- 
rogabat, licet id jure potuisset. 
Sed contra sic egit laborans, 
operans, patiens, moriens, ut 
similis esset ceteris hominibus, 
et habitu et gestu non aliud 
quam homo, quasi lis omnibus 


egeret, et nihil haberet for- 


marum Dei, quod tamen totum 


NOTE 17. 


apostolic terms, ‘ form of God,’ 
‘form of a servant,’ ‘fashion,’ 
and ‘likeness of men,’ have 
made this passage refer ex- 
pressly to the divine and 
human natures. Whereas the 
Apostle’s meaning is, that 
Christ, though He was full 
in His form of God, and 
abounding in all good, so that 
He wanted no work or suffer- 
ing in order to His becoming: 
righteous and saved (for He 
had all these things immedi- 
ately from the beginning of 
Himself); yet was not puffed 
up with these, nor lifted up 
above us, nor did arrogate to 
Himself a certain power over 
us (although He might have 
done that by right); but that, 
on the contrary, He conde- 
scended so to labour, suffer, and 
die, that He might become hke 
other men, and in form and 
fashion nothing more than a 
man, as though He had need 
of these things and had no- 
thing of the form of God ; and 
that He did all this for us, 
that He might serve us, and 
that all those things might 
become ours which He did in 
this form of a servant. 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY, 


propter nos fecit, ut nobis ser-- 


viret, et nostra fierent omnia, 
quae hac forma servi operare- 
tur. 

Ita Christianus, quemad- 
modum caput suum Christus, 
per fidem suam plenus et satur, 
contentus esse debet hac forma 
Dei, per fidem obtenta, nisi 
quod, ut dixi, ipsam hance 
fidem augere debet, donec per- 
ficiatur. Haec enim vita, jus- 
titia, et salus ejus est, perso- 
nam ipsam servans et gratam 
faciens, omniaque  tribuens, 
quae Christus habet, ut supra 
dictum est, et Paulus Gal. 1. 
confirmat, dicens: Quod au- 
tem in carne vivo, in fide fili 
Dei vivo. Et quamquam sic 
liber est ab omnibus operibus, 
debet tamen rursus se exina- 
nire hac libertate, formam 
servi accipere, in similitudi- 
nem hominum fieri, et habuit 
inveniri ut homo, servire, 
adjuvare, et omnimodo cum 


proximo suo agere, sicut videt 


373 


So the Christian, being 
by his faith complete and 
full, like Christ his head, 
ought to be satisfied with 
this ‘form of God’ which he 
has obtained by faith (except 
that, as I have before observed, 
he ought to increase this same 
faith until it be perfected ; 
for this faith is his life, his 
righteousness, his salvation ; 
preserving his person and 
rendering it acceptable, and 
making him a partaker of all 
that Christ possesses; as we 
have shewn before, and as 
Paul affirms, Gal. i, saying, 
‘The life that I now live in 
the flesh, I live by the faith 
of the Son of God’); but yet, 
although he is thus free from 
all works, he ought neverthe- 
less in this his liberty to 
make himself of no reputation, 
to take upon him the form of 
a servant, to be made in the 
likeness of men, to be found 
in fashion as a man, to serve, 
to help, and in all things to 
do unto his neighbour as he 
sees God has done, and still 
does, for Christ’s sake, unto 


374 


secum actum et agi a Deo per 
Christum, et hoc ipsum gratis, 
nulloque respectu, nisi divini 
placiti, et ita cogitare : 

En mihi indigno damnato- 
que homuncioni, citra omne 
meritum, mera gratuitaque 
misericordia, dedit Deus meus 
in Christo omnes divitias jus- 
titiae et salutis, ut amplius 
nulla re prorsus indigeam, nisi 
fide, quae credat, hoe se sic 
habere. Huic ergo tali Patri, 
qui me suis his inaestimabi- 
libus divitiis obruit, cur non 
hberaliter, hilariter, toto corde 
spontaneoque studio omnia 


faciam, quaecunque  sciero 
placita et grata coram illo 
esse? Dabo itaque me quen- 
dam Christum proximo meo, 
quemadmodum Christus sese 
praebuit mihi, nihil facturus 
in hac vita, nisi quod videro 
proximo meo necessarium, 
commodum et salutare fore, 
quandoquidem per fidem om- 
in Christo 


nium bonorum 


abundans sum. 


NOTE 17. 


him; and that freely and 
without anything else in view 
than doing the good will of 
God. He ought to think thus — 
with himself :— 

Behold, here am I an un- 
worthy and condemned wretch, 
and my God has, of his own 
pure and free mercy, with- 
out any deserving on my 
part, given unto me in Christ 
all the riches of righteous- 
ness and salvation, so that 
I want no one thing else 
whatever but faith to believe 
that this really is so, Unto 
such a Father therefore, who 
has more than filled me with 
these His inestimable riches, 
what shall I render? Shall I 
not freely, gladly, with all my 
heart, and with spontaneous 
desire, do whatever I know is 
acceptable and well-pleasing 
in His sight? Surely then I 
will give myself as a certain 
Christ to my neighbour, even 
as Christ has given Himself 
unto me. I will do nothing 
in this life but that which 
shall be to my neighbour’s © 
service, profit, or edification ; 
and that, because by faith 
I possess an abundance of all 
good in Christ. 


LUTHER ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 


Kcce sic fluit ex fide caritas 
et gaudium in Domino, et ex 
caritate hilaris, libens, liber 
animus, ad sponte serviendum 
proximo, ita ut nullam habeat 
rationem gratitudinis, ingra- 
titudinis, laudis ac vituperil, 
lucri aut damni. Neque enim 
agit hoc, ut homines sibi de- 
mereatur, nec inter amicos 
Inimicosque discernit, nec gra- 
tos nec ingratos suspicit, sed 
liberrime, libentissimeque dis- 
pergit se et sua, sive ea perdat 
in ingratis, sive mereatur. Sic 
enim et pater ejus facit, om- 
nibus omnia distribuens abun- 
danter et liberrime, faciens 
solem suum oriri super bonos 
et malos. Ita filius nihil, nisi 
gratuito gaudio, quo in Deo 
per Christum delectatur, tan- 
tarum rerum largitore, facit 
et patitur. 

Vides ergo, si cognoscimus 
ea, quae nobis data sunt, max- 
ima et pretiosa, ut Petrus ait, 


mox per spiritum diffundi in 


O79 


Thus you see, from faith 
flow love and gladness in the 
Lord ; and from love a happy, 
willing, and free spirit to serve 
a neighbour spontaneously ; 
and that, without any regard 
to gratitude or ingratitude, 
praise or blame, gain or loss. 
Nor in what it does has it 
any eye to gaining the favour 
of men, nor does it make any 
distinction between friends and 
enemies, nor has it any respect 
to the grateful or ungrateful ; 
but with the utmost freedom 
and willingness it devotes both 
itself and its property, whether . 
they prove to be lost upon the 
ungrateful or given to the 
deserving. And even as the 
Father of this free son does, 
distributing freely and abund- 
antly all things to all, ‘causing 
his sun to shine upon the just 
and upon the unjust ;’ so the 
son does nothing and suffers 
nothing but with that free 
gladness in which he delights 
through Christ in God, who 
has freely given him such 
exceedingly great things. 


You see therefore that when 
we once know those exceed- 
ingly great and preciousthings 
(as Peter saith) which are freely 
given unto us, love is there- 


376 


cordibus nostris caritatem, qua 
liberi, hilares, omnipotentes, 
operatores, et omnium tribu- 
lationum victores, proximorum 
servi, nihilominus tamen om- 
Qui 


vere non cognoscunt donata 


nium domini sumus. 
sibi per Christum, iis Christus 
frustra natus est, per opera 
illi incedunt, ad istarum rerum 
gustum et sensum nunquam 
perventuri. Igitur sicut prox- 
imus noster necessitatem habet 
et nostra abundantia indiget, 
ita et nos coram Deo necessi- 
tatem habuimus et misericor- 
Ideo 


sicut Pater coelestis nobis in 


dia ejus indiguimus. 


Christo gratis auxiliatus est, 
ita et nos debemus gratis per 
corpus et opera ejus proximo 
nostro auxiliari, et unusquis- 
que alteri Christus quidam 
mutuum 
Christi, et Christus idem in 


omnibus, hoe est, vere Chris- 


fierl, ut simus 


tiani . 


Quis ergo comprehendere 


NOTE 17. 


upon largely shed abroad in 
our hearts by the Holy Ghost ; 
under the influence of which 
we are free and happy, all- 
affecting workmen, overcomers 
of all tribulation, the servants 
of our neighbours and yet 
nevertheless lords of all things. 
Whereas those who know not 
these things as freely given 
unto them through Christ, to 
them Christ is born in vain ; 
these wander in the ways of 
working and shall never attain 
unto a knowledge and taste 
of these things. As therefore 
our neighbour has necessity, 
and stands in need of our 
abundance; so we once had 
necessity before God and stood 
in need of His mercy. As our 
Heavenly Father has freely 
supplied our necessities in 
Christ, so we ought by our 
body and its industry freely 
to supply the necessity of our 
neighbour, and each to become 
to the other a certain Christ, 
that we may be all as one in 
Christ and Christ one in us 
all; that is, that we may be 
true Christians. 


Who then can comprehend 


NOTE 18. 


queat divitias et gloriam 
Christianae vitae? quae om- 
nia potest et habet, et nullius 
indiget, peccati, mortis, inferni 
domina, simul tamen omnibus 


serva et obsequiosa et utilis. 


377 


the riches and the glory of 
the Christian life? It pos- 
sesses and can do all things, 
wanting nothing itself; the 
royal conqueress of sin, death, 
and hell, and yet at the same 
time a handmaid humbly sub- 
servient and profitable to all. 


NOTE 18, p. 181. 


The following is the commencement of Bradwardine’s 
Preface :— 

‘Magnorum et multorum petitionibus atque repetitionibus 
cumulatis incessanter sollicitor, ut quae nuper de causa Dei 
contra Pelagium, et de virtute causarum, in castris scholasticis 
militando, voce transeunte deprompseram, scripturae mancipem 
remanenti. Verum haud dubio, sicut Dei amici in causa Dei 
postulare me provocant et confortant, ita et amici Pelagii, 
super numerum plures istis, me revocant et deterrent. Ecce 
enim (quod non nisi tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus refero) 
sicut olim contra, unicum Dei Prophetam octingenti et quin- 
quaginta Prophetae Baal, et similes sunt reperti, quibus et 
innumerabilis populus adhaerebat ; ita et hodie in hac causa ; 
quot, Domine, hodie cum Pelagio, pro Libero Arbitrio, contra 
gratuitam gratiam tuam pugnant, et contra Paulum pugilem 
gratiae spiritualem? Quot etiam hodie gratuitam gratiam 
tuam fastidiunt, solumque liberum arbitrium ad salutem suffi- 
cere stomachantur? Aut si gratia utantur, vel perfunctorie ne- 
cessariam eam simulant, ipsamque se jactant liberi sui arbitrii 
viribus promereri, ut sic saltem nequaquam gratuita, sed 
vendita videatur? Quot etiam, Deus omnipotens, impotentes 
de sui potestate arbitrii praesumentes, tuae cooperationis 
auxilium in operationibus suis recusant, dicendo cum impiis, 
recede a nobis? Quot insuper, Domine, sui libertatem arbitrn 


378 NOTE 19. 


extollentes, tuam refugiunt servitutem? Vel si te cooperari 
cum eis saltem labiis fateantur, cum illis superbis et odibilibus 
civibus tuis quondam, te super eos regnare diffugiunt ; imo et 
superbiores Lucifero aequalitate tui nequaquam contenti, super 
te, Rex regzum, impudentissime gestiunt se regnare? Non 
enim verentur astruere suam voluntatem in actione communi 
praeire ut dominam, tuam subsequi ut ancillam ; se praeire ut 
Dominos, te subsequi sicut servum; se velut rewes praecipere, 
te tanquam subditum obedire. Quinimo et voluntati suae in 
contingenter futuris omnimodam tribuunt libertatem in tan- 
tum, ut etiam contra vocem Propheticam a tua subjectione 
exemptionem praetendant, et voluntatem tuam lberrimam, 
omnipotentissimam et immutabilissimam cum haec advenerint 
in praeteritum velabantur de summa arce libertatis antiquae 
dejicere, et novellae necessitatis irreperabili servituti subjicere 
moliuntur. O Domine Deus meus, non nisi gemebundus 
recogito, quot et quanti judices seleges Pelagianos, olim 
damnatos, et a totius Ecclesiae finibus relegatos absolvere et 
reconciliare sollicite machinantur! Quot turgidi advocati 
pro eis vociferantur! Quot improbabiles procuratores partem 
eorum procurant! Quot insuper, Domine, argumenta arti- 
ficialia non habentes, ad inartificialia se convertunt, et ut 
partem Pelagianorum extollant saltem clamoribus, horribilibus 
probris, conviciis, risu, et gestu, partem tuam deprimere anni- 
tuntur! Et quot et quam innumerabiles eis favent! Totus 
etenim paene mundus post Pelagium abiit in errorem. 
iixurge igitur, Domine, judica causam tuam, et sustinentem 
te sustine, protege, robora, consolare. Scis enim quod nus- 
quam virtute mea, sed tua confisus, tantillus ageredior tantam 


causam.—BrADWARDINE, De Causa Dei, &c., ed. Savile, 1618. 


NOTE 19, p. 181. 


See the fourth of Archbishop Laurence’s Bampton Lectures, 
and the Notes upon it. The following extract is from Note 1 
to that Sermon :— 


NOTE 19. 379 


‘It was the universal sentiment of the Schools, that fallen 
man is both capable of preparing himself for the reception of 
grace, and of deserving it by his own virtue: “ Quod homo 
possit se praeparare ad gratiam sine novo dono habituali, sibi 
divinitus infuso, omnes concedunt.” Durandus a Sanct. 
Pore. In Sentent. lib. ii. distinct. 28, quaest. 3. “ Hoe sup- 
posito, dicendum est, quod ad merendum solum de congruo 
non est necessarium ponere id nobis gratiam vel caritatem 
habitualem, quod patet, quia, secundum omnes, peccator carens 
gratia poenitendo meretur de congruo gratiam justificantem.”’ 
Id. lib. i. dist. 16, quaest. 2. 

In what sense the scholastical grace, or charity, was deemed 
requisite to render merit complete, or convert that which 
before was ‘meritum de congruo’ into ‘meritum de con- 
digno,’ the writings of Luther abundantly shew, ‘ Principium 
fidei illorum capitale est hujusmodi, Hominem posse ex natu- 
ralibus viribus, faciendo quod in se est, implere omnia mandata 
Dei. 

‘Ex quo capite, quae membra pendeant, vide. Primum, 
quod gratia Dei hominibus non est necessaria ew parte facientis, 
neque ex parte faciendorum, (quod etiam rotundis verbis impu- 
denter habent eorum libri,) sed ew parte eaactoris Dei, ut qui 
mandata sua impleri non est contentus, nisi 7 gratia imple- 
antur. Ex quo ulterius sequitur coelum esse clausum, et 
infernum paratum homini summa iniquitate Dei, nempe non 
propter peccata hominis, neque propter non impleta man- 
data Dei, sed propter tyrannicam et arbitrariam exactionem 
Dei... 

‘ Breviter, quicquid Christus est, et in Christo nobis donatum 
est, superfluum et non necessarium est, si nos est naturalia 
nostra spectes, sed necessarium solum; si Dei exactionem 
spectes... 

‘Christum plane non necessarium facitis, et ex parte nostra. 
Ideo aperte negatis ipsum esse Jesum, id est, Sa/vatorem 
hominum. Asseritis autem, potius Satisfactorem ewactionrs iniqut 
Dei. Nec liberavit nos a peccatis, quae nulla sunt, si liberum 
arbitrium velit facere, quod est in se, sed ab exactione ultra 


380 NOTE 20. 


peccata et mandata in homines saeviente. LKcce corpus sactae 
theologiae Parrhisiensis, et Papistarum ex latere uno. 

‘Ex alio latere, aliud principium fidei, JZominem posse, 
Jaciendo quod est in se, infallibiliter et necessario merert gratiam 
de congruo. 

‘Nonne sic docetis Almae facultates? Docetis ergo per hac 
posse nos satisfacere ex nobis etiam iniquae Dei tyrannidi, ut 
misero et superfluo Christo non reliquus sit saltem blasphemis- 
simus ille honor, quo non Salvator hominum, seu Jesus, sed 
satisfactor divini tyranni et exactoris diceretur. Jam enim 
nos ipsi gratiam possumus alsgue Mediatore impetrare. Ac si 
jam dis superfluus est Christus, mec necessarius etiam ex parte 
Dei exactoris. 

‘Vereor autem ne lector pius non eredat haec horrendis 
horribiliora doceri in Academiis. Quapropter te oro, Christiane 
frater, vera me credas loqui; ¢estes invoco eorum libros extantes, 
et conscientias tum ipsorummet, tum omnium qui legerunt 
eorum libros.’—Opera Lutheri, vol. 11. fol. 265. 


NOTE 20, p. 185. 


A similar principle to that of the Royal Supremacy was, in 
fact, involved in Luther’s appeal ‘To the Christian Nobility 
of the German Nation, concerning the Reformation of the 
Christian Estate. At the very moment when Eck was 
returning to Germany with the bull of excommunication, 
Luther was completing this treatise. It is described by the 
editor of the Erlangen edition as ‘the work by which he won 
all hearts, and paralysed the influence of the bull with the 
thoughtful and unprejudiced portion of the nation.’ It ap- 
peared in August, 1520, and by the 18th of that month more 
than 4000 copies had been already dispersed—a prodigious 
circulation, considering the state of literature at that day. 
Its purport is sufficiently described in its opening paragraph. 
‘The Romanists, he says, ‘have with great adroitness sur- 
rounded themselves with three walls, with which they have 


NOTE 21. 381 


hitherto secured themselves so that no one should reform 
them, whereby the whole of Christendom has been grievously 
injured. In the first place, when they are pressed by the 
‘temporal power, they declare that “the temporal power has 
no authority over the spiritual; but, on the contrary, that 
the spiritual power is above the temporal.” In the second 
place, when men rebuke them with the Holy Scripture, they 
contend “ that the office of interpreting the Scripture belongs 
to no one except to the Pope.” In the third place, when 
threatened with a Council, they then devise ‘‘ that no one can 
call a Council except the Pope.”’ 

These three walls Luther endeavours to demolish, as he 
expresses it, with the sound of his trumpet. He then 
proceeds to depict in the sequel with extraordinary vigour 
and boldness the corruptions of the Church, and his breach 
from Rome was from the moment of this publication irrepar- 
able. He appealed, in a word, to the Government and the 
lay authorities of the German nation to take into their own 
hands the reformation which was needed. Some abuses, as 
being within their own control, he calls on them to abolish at 
once. For the removal of others he begs them to summon a 
General Council, and, when it is summoned, to protect the 
freedom of its deliberations. 

It is a characteristic circumstance that, while these princi- 
ples found their boldest expression in Germany, they received 
their most practical application in England. 


NOTE 21, p. 187. 


The following is the text of this passage. It occurs in the 
Resolutiones Disputationum de Indulgentiarum Virtute, under 
Conclusio LV IIL :— 

Theologus crucis (id est, de Deo crucifixo et abscondito 
loquens) poenas, cruces, mortem docet esse thesaurum omnium 
pretiosissimum et reliquias sacratissimas, quas ipsemet dominus 
hujus theologiae consecravit, benedixitque, non solum tactu 


382 NOTE 22. 


suae sanctissimae carnis, sed et amplexu suae supersanctae et 
divinae voluntatis, easque hic reliquit vere osculandas, quae- 
rendas, amplexandas. Quin beatus et benedictus, qui dignus 
fuerit Deo visus, ut ei donentur hi thesauri reliquiarum 
Christi, imo qui intelligat sibi donari. Nam cui non offe- 
runtur? Sicut B. Jacobus: Omne gaudium existimate fratres, 
cum in tentationes varias incideritis. Non est enim omnium 
haec gratia et gloria, ut hos accipiant thesauros, sed electissi- 
morum filiorum Dei. 

Multi peregrinantur Romam aliaque sancta loca, ut tuni- 
cam Christi, ossa martyrum, loca et vestigia sanctorum videant 
(quod non damnamus quidem), sed hoc gemimus, quod veras 
reliquias, scilicet passiones et cruces, quae sanctificaverunt 
ossa et reliquias martyrum, et tanta veneratione fecerunt 
digna. Ita nescimus, ut non solum non acceptemus oblatas 
domi, sed summis viribus repellamus, et persequamur de loco 
in locum, cum deberemus summa siti et jugibus lacrimis id 
apud Deum postulare, ut darentur nobis tam pretiosae re- 
liquiae Christi omnium sacratissimae, tanquam donum elec- 
torum Dei filiorum. 

% * * * * * * # 

Quin tam sanctae sunt ejusmodi reliquiae et tam pretiosi 
thesauri, ut cum aliae possint servari in terra, aut ut honori- 
ficentissime in auro, argento, gemmis, serico, hae non possunt 
servarl nisi in coelestibus, vivis, rationalibus, immortalibus, 
puris, sanctis servaculis, id est, cordibus fidelium, omni auro 
et gemma inaestimabilitur pretiosioribus.—LutTurert Opera 
Latina ad Reformationis historiam imprimis pertinentia. Frank- 
fort, 1865. Vol. II. pp. 270, 271. 


NOTE 22, p. 188. 
The text is subjoined from the Resolutiones Disputationum :— 


Conciusio XCII. 


Valeant itaque omnes illi prophetae, qui dicunt populo 
Christi: Pax, pax, et non est pax. 


NOTE 23. 383 


Concitusio XCIIT. 


Bene agant omnes illi prophetae, qui dicunt populo Christi: 
Crux, crux, et non est crux. 


Conctusio XCIYV. 


Exhortandi sunt Christiani, ut caput suum Christum per 
poenas mortes infernosque sequi studeant. 


ConcLusio XCV. 


Ac sic magis per multas tribulationes intrare coelum, quam 
per securitatem pacis confidant. 

Satis supra de cruce et poenis dictum est, hodie rarus 
sermo.—LuTHERI Opera (ut supra), p. 293. 


NOTE 28, p. 205, 


This subject is sufficiently illustrated by the letter which 
Dr. Dollinger addressed on the 28th of March, 1871, to the 
Archbishop of Munich and Freising, in explanation of his 
position with respect to the decree of Papal Infallibility. 
The following translation is extracted from The Guardian of 
April 5, 1871 :— 

‘Your Excellency has asked me in two letters to explain my 
position with respect to the Romish Resolutions of July 18th, 
1870, which have been published by you. 

‘It has transpired in the circle of your Cathedral Chapter 
that it is your intention to proceed against me with such 
penal measures as are used only against such priests as have 
been guilty of gross moral crimes, and even but seldom 
against these. This is to occur if I do not, within a certain 
period, submit myself to the two new articles of faith, as to 
the universal (Ad/gewalt) power and infallibility of the Pope. 

‘I learn at the same time that a council-meeting of German 
Bishops is to take place shortly at Fulda. 

‘In the year 1848, when a meeting of all the German 
Bishops was held at Wirzburg, the honour of an invitation 


384 NOTE 23. 


was extended to myself, and I took part in the proceedings. 
Your Excellency might perhaps arrange that I might be 
allowed in the meeting which is about to take place, not this 
time to take part in the proceedings, but to have an audience 
for a few hours. 

‘For I am prepared to prove before this meeting the follow- 
ine theses, which are of decisive importance for the present 
situation of the German Church, as well as for my personal 
position. 

‘Firstly, the new articles of faith are based upon the texts 
in the Holy Scriptures, St. Matt. xvi. 18 and St. John 
xxl. 17, and, as far as Infallibility is concerned, upon the 
text, St. Luke xxii. 32, with which the same, biblically con- 
sidered, must stand or fall. But we are bound by a solemn 
oath, which I myself have twice sworn, to “ accept and to 
explain the Holy Scriptures, not otherwise .than according 
to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.” The Fathers of 
the Church have all, without exception, explained the texts 
in question as bearing a totally different meaning to the 
new decrees, and especially in the text St. Luke xxii. 32 have 
found anything but an infallibility given to the Pope. 
Therefore, were I to accept with the decrees this explana- 
tion, without which every biblical basis to the same is 
wanting, I should commit a perjury. And, as I have said, 
I am prepared to prove this to the Bishops in council. 

‘Secondly, in several Episcopal pastorals and notices which 
have lately appeared, the assertion has been made, or the 
historical proof sought, that the new doctrine now proceeding 
from Rome as to the universal power of the Pope over every 
single Christian, and as to the Papal Infallibility in decisions 
in the Church on matters of faith from the beginning, through 
all time and for ever, has been generally, or at least nearly 
generally, believed and taught. I am ready to prove that 
this assertion is based upon an entire misconception of the 
traditions of the Church for the first thousand years, and 
upon an entire distortion of her history. It is in direct 
contradiction to the plainest facts and testimonies. 


NOTE 23. 385 


‘Thirdly, I am ready to prove that the Bishops of the 
Latin countries, Spain, Italy, South America, France, who 
formed the immense majority at Rome, were, with their 
clergy, already led astray by the class-books from which 
they took their ideas during their seminary education ; since 
the proofs given in these books are for the most part false, 
invented, or distorted. I shall prove this, firstly, with the 
two principal and favourite works of modern theological 
schools and seminaries, Tze Moral Philosophy of St. Alphonsus 
Lriguort (and especially as regards the treatise contained 
therein concerning the Pope), and with The Theology of the 
Jesuit Peroni ; further, with the writings of the Archbishop 
Cardoni, and of Bishop Ghilardi, which were distributed 
in Rome during the Council; and finally, with Zhe Theology 
of the Viennese Theologian Schwetz. 

‘ Fourthly, I appeal to the fact, which I am ready to prove 
in public, that two General Councils and several Popes have 
already decided in the fifteenth century by solemn decrees, 
issued by the Councils, repeatedly confirmed by the Popes, 
the question as to the extent of the Pope’s power, and as 
to his infallibility, and that the decrees of the 18th of July, 
1870, are in the most glaring contradiction to these resolu- 
tions, and therefore cannot possibly be considered as bind- 
ing. | 

‘Fifthly, I believe that I shall be able to prove that the 
new decrees are simply incompatible with the Constitutions 
of the States of Europe, and especially with that of Bavaria ; 
and that I find it impossible for me, who am bound by oath 
to this Constitution, which I have lately sworn on my admis- 
sion to the Chamber of the Councillors of State, to accept the 
new decrees, and as their necessary consequence, the Bulls 
*Unam Sanctam” and “Cum ex Apostolatus officio,” the 
Syllabus of Pius IX, with so many other Papal declarations 
and laws, which are now to be accepted as infallible decisions, 
and are in irreconcilable antagonism to the laws of the country. 
I appeal on this subject to the opinion given by the Legal 
Faculty in Munich, and am ready to abide by the arbitration 

ce 


386 NOTE 23. 


of any German Legal Faculty which your Excellency may be 
pleased to name. 

‘I only ask two conditions for the Conference which I have 
proposed, or rather prayed for; the first, that my assertions, 
together with any counter-assertions, shall be recorded, with a 
view to their subsequent publication; the second, that a man 
of scientific culture, to be chosen by me, shall be allowed to be 
present at the Conference. 

‘Should this be unattainable before the German bishops in 
Fulda, I venture most respectfully to proffer another request, 
that it may please your Excellency to form, out of the mem- 
bers of your Cathedral Chapter, a committee, before which I 
may plead my cause in the way above-mentioned. Several of 
these venerable gentlemen are Doctors, and were formerly 
Professors of Theology, and at the same time my former 
scholars. I may hope that it would be more agreeable to 
them to treat with me in quiet argument, to confute me, if 
possible, with reasons and facts, than to draw up, upon the 
seat of judgment, criminal sentences against me, and to 
submit the same to your Excellency, to be fulminated, as the 
saying is. If your Excellency will consent to preside at this 
Conference, and will condescend to correct any errors into 
which I may have fallen in the citation and explanation of 
testimonies and facts, I shall count it as a great honour, and 
the cause of truth can only profit thereby. And when you 
place before me the prospect of the exercise of your pastoral 
power, I may still hope that you will prefer to employ, in the 
first place, towards me, the finest, most noble, most benevolent, 
and most Christ-like attribute of this power—namely, the 
teacher’s office. Should I be convinced by testimonies and 
facts, I engage myself to revoke publicly all that I have 
written in this matter, and to confute myself. In any case 
the results must be advantageous to the Church, and the peace 
of spirits. For it is not myself alone who am concerned ; 
thousands of the clergy, hundreds of thousands of the laity 
think as I do, and find it impossible to accept the new articles 
of faith. 


NOTE 28. 387 


‘Up to this day not a single one, even of those who have 
signed a declaration of submission, has said to me that he is 
really convinced of the truth of these theses. All my friends 
and acquaintances confirm me in this experience; “not a 
single person believes in it,” is what I hear day by day from 
all lips. A Conference such as I have proposed, and the 
publication of the proceedings, will in any case afford that 
deeper insight which so many long: for. 

‘Perhaps your Excellency will refer me to the Pastoral 
issued recently by yourself, as a source from which I can draw 
sufficient instruction and correction of my opinions; but I 
must confess that it has had exactly the opposite effect upon 
me, and I am ready to prove that there is there a long list of 
misunderstood, distorted, mutilated, or invented testimonies, 
which, taken together with the suppression of the most 
important facts and counter-proofs, form a most unreal picture 
of the true tradition. It is certain that the person to whom 
your Excellency entrusted this task did not invent these falsi- 
fications, but has borrowed them in good faith from others 
(Cardoni, for instance), but were it his desire to defend his 
work at the proposed Conference, he would find me ready to 
prove my assertion in a few hours, or, should I not succeed in 
doing so, to make public apology to him. I would only ask 
for one condition in consideration of the importance of the 
matter—viz. that the Government be requested to allow a 
statesman, learned in historical and ecclesiastical matters, to 
attend the Conference. As the case is one of the highest 
importance for all Governments, it may be assumed that this 
request would not be refused. 

‘There is no want of precedents in the past history of 
the Church, which show that my proposal is in accordance 
with the principles as well as with the practice of the Church. 
In the year 411, a Conference of 286 Catholic and 279 
Donatist Bishops held three sessions under the presidency of 
the Imperial officer of State, Marcellinus, and the disputed 
doctrine was discussed, upon which the latter decided in 
favour of the Catholic Bishops. In the year 1433 Bohemian 

CcyZ 


388 | NOTE 23. 


Calixtines appeared at the Council of Basel, and a decree 
which had been issued eighteen years before by the Synod of 
Constance, as to the Communion in one kind, was now sub- 
mitted to new discussion and examination, the result being 
that compromise (also acknowledged by the Papal chair) which 
was a most important and fundamental concession to the 
Bohemians, and one differing widely from the older decree. A 
still greater similarity with the transaction proposed by myself 
is to be found in the Conference, so celebrated in French 
history, between the Bishop Du Perron, of Evreux, and the 
Protestant statesman and savant, Du Plessis-Mornay, which 
took place in the year 1600, at Fontainebleau, under the 
auspices of King Henry IV. Here it was a question as to 
the proof that Mornay had falsified or incorrectly quoted a 
considerable number of authorities in his book upon the 
Eucharist. Henry himself presided, and the most eminent 
men of both Churches were present as witnesses. The Con- 
ference was interrupted after a few days, and after a number 
of Mornay’s quotations had been examined, by the illness of 
the latter, but caused, nevertheless, a remarkably favourable 
effect for the Catholic cause, in the excited minds of that 
period. 

‘Most venerable Archbishop, I leave entirely to your own 
judgment which form you will give to a Conference so much 
desired by myself, and certainly so welcome to multitudes of 
German Catholics, and what persons you will invite to attend, 
or oppose to me; in your diocese there is certainly no want 
of professional theologians who will be glad to accept your 
invitation. The practice of the Church proves that a question 
of faith is just as much an affair of the laity as of the clergy, 
and that the former may take part in the scientific examina- 
tion and establishment of the tradition, a fact which both 
Popes and theologians have acknowledged. And in this case, 
which is a matter for historical proof, I am gladly ready to 
submit to the verdict of the most eminent historians of the 
German nation and of the Catholic faith. Such men as 
Ficker, Reumont, Hofler, Arneth, Kampschulte, Cornelius, 


NOTE 28. 389 


Lorenz, Wegele, Aschbach, may judge whether my proofs be 
critically and historically right or not. 

‘Your Excellency was pleased formerly to honour my book 
on the First Ages of the Church Apostolical with your 
approval, and it was generally considered among German 
Catholics to be a true picture of the time of foundation: even 
the Jesuitic-Ultramontane party let it pass without censure. 
But if the new decrees contain the truth, then I have laid 
myself open to the reproach of having entirely misrepresented 
the history of the Apostles. That entire section of my book 
which concerns the constitution of the earlier Church, my 
description of the relation in which Paul and the other 
Apostles stood to Peter—all is fundamentally wrong, and I 
ought to condemn my own book, and confess that I have 
neither understood Luke’s Acts of the Apostles nor their own 
Epistles. ) 

‘The new doctrine of the Vatican invests the Pope with 
entire plenary power (totam plenitudinem potestatis) over the 
whole Church, as well as over every single layman, priest, or 
Bishop ; a power which is to represent at the same time the 
truly Episcopal, and again the specifically Papal power— 
which is to include in itself everything concerning faith, 
morals, duty, discipline, which shall reach every one from 
the monarch to the day-labourer, and can punish, command, 
and forbid him. The wording is so carefully arranged, that 
no other position and authority remains for the Bishops than 
that of Papal commissaries or delegates, And in this manner, 
as every one acquainted with Church history and with the 
Fathers will confess, the Episcopacy of the early Church is 
essentially dissolved, and an Apostolical institution to which, 
according to the judgment of the Fathers, the highest im- 
portance and authority in the Church is due, is subtilised to 
a bodiless shadow. 

‘For no one will think it possible that there should exist 
two Bishops in the same diocese, one of whom is at the same 
time Pope, the other being simply a Bishop—and a Papal 
vicar or diocesan commissary is not a Bishop, 1s no successor 


390 NOTE 23. 


of the Apostles; he may, through the powers conceded to 
him from Rome, be very mighty, so long as his principal 
allows him to rule, just in the same way as a Jesuit or 
_ mendicant friar to whom the Pope has granted abundance 
of privileges also possesses great power: and I well know 
that such an extension of their powers has been held out in 
prospect to the Bishops in Rome; that they have been told, 
“The more irresistible the Pope, the stronger shall ye be, 
for the rays of the abundance of his power shall fall also on 
you.” The Bishops of the minority have penetrated the 
delusion of these promises; they understood clearly, as the 
“ Analytical Synopsis” shows, that as soon as the universal 
Episcopacy of the Pope should be established, they might 
indeed continue to be dignitaries of the Church, but no longer 
true Bishops. You yourself, venerable Sir, took part in the 
deputation which made sueh urgent counter-representations 
to the Pope, on the 15th of July, 1870—representations which 
Bishop von Ketteler (Mayence) sought to emphasise by 
prostration! We know that these representations were fruit- 
less. The sole consolation given to the Bishops mourning 
the loss of their ecclesiastical dignity was confined to the 
declaration in the decree that the Episcopal power is an 
‘ordinary ” one—(z, é. a “ potestas ordinaria subdelegata,” as 
the Romish canonists are accustomed to express it), and that 
the Pope considers it to be his duty to support them, this 
being vouched by a mutilated saying of Gregory the Great, 
by a passage which, if it with others had been quoted 
in its entirety, would indeed have proved to the world that 
this Pope of the seventh century put away from himself with 
the deepest horror such a universal Episcopacy as has now 
been established, considering it a blasphemous usurpation. 
‘Nor has there been any lack of prayers, representations, 
and warnings, before and during the Council. You yourself, 
venerable Sir, took part in the same by your signature. The 
Bishops of the minority have declared in an address to the 
Pope, on the 12th of January, signed by yourself, that “the 
declarations and acts of the Fathers of the Church, the ¢rue 


NOTE 238. 391 


documents of history, the Catholic educational system itself, 
presented the most serious difficulties in opposition to the 
proclamation of the doctrine of Infallibility »—they were, as 
they themselves said, afraid even to discuss these difficulties, 
and prayed the Pope to relieve them from the necessity of such 
a discussion—~.é. to relinquish his infallibility. But when the 
Pope insisted that the Council should occupy itself there- 
with, the German Bishops demanded on the 11th of March 
exhaustive conferences on the question of Infallibility, to be 
conducted by deputations chosen from both sides. These were 
not granted, and they had to content themselves with speeches 
in the Aula, where any regular discussion was an impossibility. 

‘As to the indispensability and urgent need of such con- 
ferences, I would only quote here ove instance. A considerable 
number of Italian Bishops demanded in a since-printed address 
that Papal Infallibility should be raised to a dogma of faith, 
because two men, both Italians and both the pride of their 
nation, Thomas Aquinas and Alphonsus Liguori, these shining 
lights of the Church, had thus taught. Now, it was well 
known and proved by me, as well as by Gratry, that Thomas 
had been deceived by a long series of invented testimonies, 
as indeed he bases his teaching in this instance almost ex- 
clusively upon such falsifications, and never upon genuine 
passages of the Fathers or Councils. And as to Liguori, a 
single glance at his writings is sufficient to convince any 
practised theologian that his dealings with falsified passages 
are still worse than those of Thomas. My exposure of the 
fraud to which the latter had succumbed had created great 
sensation in Rome. The author of a pamphlet published 
there, and directed against myself, says that a great cry had 
been raised on the subject round about him. It ought there- 
fore to have been indispensably necessary to examine closely 
into the matter. It is true that such an examination, care- 
fully and thoroughly begun, would have led very far; it 
would have resulted in the proof that the theory of Papal 
Infallibility had been introduced into the Church solely by a 
series of calculated inventions and falsifications, and had then 


392 NOTE 23. 


been spread and maintained by force, by the suppression of 
older teaching, and by the many means and artifices which 
are at the disposal of the ruling power. 

‘All exertions, representations, and petitions, then, were 
fruitless: nothing was conceded, and yet the example of the 
so often quoted Council of Florence was before their eyes, 
when. the assertion of the Greeks, that falsified passages of 
the Fathers were laid before them, led to examinations and 
discussions lasting many months, and carried on with the 
ereatest care. It is assuredly known to your Excellency 
that the most careful and ripe consideration of tradition has 
Invariably been required of any true Ccumenical Council 
about to issue dogmatic resolutions. How great the contrast 
in this respect between Trent and that which occurred in 
Rome in 1870! Certainly the treatise of Archbishop Cardoni, 
which was accepted at once by the Preparatory Committee, 
and which was to be considered by the assembled Bishops as a 
proof, could not have supported examination for one single hour. 

‘In the whole history of the Church I only know of one 
General Council in which, as in this last, those in power pre- 
vented any thorough discussion of the tradition, and this was 
the Second of Ephesus in the year 449; there, in the so-called 
Synod of Thieves (Raubersynode), this was done by force and 
by tumultuous tyranny. In the Vatican Council the order of 
proceeding imposed on the assembly, the Papal Committee, 
and the will of the majority, suffered no regular and critical 
examination tobe made. Such an examination would assuredly 
have brought to the light many awkward and unpleasant 
matters, but it would have preserved the Church from a state 
of confusion which must appear pitiable to yourself. If you 
notwithstanding assert that the Vatican assembly was entirely 
free, you take the word “free” in a sense which theological 
circles do not generally attach to it. A Council is only then 
theologically free when free examination and discussion of all 
objections and difficulties has taken place, when exceptions 
have been admitted, and examined in accordance with the 
rules for ascertaining the tradition, That not even the most 


NOTE 28. 393 


modest beginning was made in this direction, that indeed the 
immense majority of the Bishops from Latin countries wanted 
either the will or the power to distinguish truth from false- 
hood, right from wrong, is proved by the pamphlets which 
appeared in Italy and were distributed in Rome,—for instance, 
those of the Dominican Bishop of Mondori, Ghilardi; and 
further, by the fact that hundreds of these Bishops could with- 
out blushing rest their case upon the unassailable authority of 
Alphonsus Liguori. 

‘It is well known that the Jesuits, when they had conceived 
the plan of establishing Papal absolutism in Church and State, 
in education and administration, as a dogma, invented the so- 
called “ Sacrificio dell’ intelletto,’’ and assured their adherents 
and disciples—yes, even persuaded many, and among them 
many Bishops—that the most beautiful aet of adoration of 
the Almighty and the most noble Christian heroism consist 
in this—that man, renouncing his own spiritual light of self- 
gained understanding and discernment, should throw himself 
with blind faith into the arms of our unerring Papal magis- 
tracy, as the sole sure source of religious knowledge. And 
this religious order has indeed had great success in raising in 
the eyes of numbers intellectual indolence to the dignity of a 
religious sacrifice full of merit, and has even moved men, 
whose culture would have enabled them to enter upon an 
historical examination, to abandon the same. But as far as 
we may judge from their Pastorals, the German Bishops have 
not yet descended to this point of delusion. They still con- 
cede to human knowledge, to human search and examination, 
a right to exist and a sphere of activity. They themselves 
appeal to history, as does the Pastoral which has appeared 
under your name. 

‘In a Pastoral Letter which has just been sent to me, Bishop 
Lothar von Kubel in Freiburg says on p. g—“ Does the Pope 
receive new revelations? Can he create new articles of faith ? 
Certainly not. He can only declare that a doctrine is contained 
in the Holy Scriptures, and in tradition, therefore is revealed 
by God, and must be believed of all.” I do not doubt that 


394 NOTE 23. 


your Excellency, and all other German Bishops, are fully 
agreed with these words. But the question is, then, in the 
present confused state of the Church, simply an historical one, 
which is to be treated and decided upon according to the 
means in our power, and to the rules which are applicable to 
every historic search, to every discovery of past facts—that is 
to say, of such as belong to history. There are in this case no 
special or secret sources of which the Popes alone have the 
right or power to avail themselves. Both Pope and Bishops 
must in this case necessarily, if I may use the expression, 
place themselves under the common law—~. e. if their resolu- 
tions are to endure, they must adopt that course, must initiate 
that examination of witnesses with the requisite sifting and 
critical proof of evidence, which alone in the judgment of all 
men of capacity in historical matters is able to give us truth 
and certainty. There were therefore, and remain yet, two 
questions to be answered, in accordance with this course. 
Firstly, is it the truth that the three sayings of Christ respect- 
ing Peter were understood from the beginning through all 
centuries in the whole Church in the sense which is now given 
to them—namely, that of an infallibility and boundlessly uni- 
versal power granted thereby to the Popes? Secondly, is it 
true that the ecclesiastical tradition of all time in the writings 
of the Fathers, and the facts of history, prove the general 
acknowledgment of this double right of the Pope? 

‘If these questions must be answered in the negative, it is 
not permissible to appeal, as Bishop von Ktbel and others do, 
to the assistance of the Holy Ghost, as promised to the Pope, 
and to the obedience of faith due on this account to him: 
for what we are to examine into historically is just whether 
this assistance has been promised to him. And where has 
this been done? Not in the Council, for there, as Cardoni’s 
principal treatise proves, even falsifications were not shunned, 
and an entirely unreal picture of tradition has been given, 
with a suppression of the most striking facts and counter- 
testimonies. And it is precisely this which I am ready to 
prove. 


NOTE 23. 395 


‘ And here I bee your Excellency to consider that the doc- 
trine which we are now to adopt forms by its own nature, and 
by the declaration of the Pope himself, by the confession of all 
infallibilists, a fundamental article of faith—that it is a ques- 
tion of the regula fider, of the rule which must decide what is 
to be believed and what is not. In future every Catholic 
Christian could only answer the query why he believes this or 
that, as follows :—“ I believe, or deny it, because the infallible 
Pope has commanded me to believe, or to deny it.” Nor can 
this first principle of faith, as the Holy Scriptures necessarily 
should most clearly shew, ever have been doubtful in the 
Church—it must at every date and among every people have 
governed the whole Church like a brightly shining star, must 
have been placed in the front of all instruction ;—and we all 
wait for an explanation, how it is to be cleared up that only 
after 1830 years the Church has started the idea of making 
an article of faith of a doctrine which the Pope calls, in a 
letter addressed to your Excellency on the 28th of October, 
“ipsum fundamentale principium Catholicae fidei ac doctrinae.” 
How can it have been possible that the Popes should have, 
during centuries past, exempted whole countries, whole schools 
of theology, from belief in this “ fundamental article of faith? ” 
And—may I add ?—how is it that your Excellency yourself 
strove so long and so persistently against the enunciation of 
this dogma? Because it was not opportune, you say. But 
can it ever have been “ inopportune ” to give to believers the 
key of the whole temple of faith, to announce to them the 
fundamental article on which all the rest depend? We stand 
all of us giddy before a chasm which opened before us on the 
18th of July last. 

‘He who wishes to measure the immense range of these 
resolutions may be urgently recommended to compare tho- 
roughly the third chapter of the decrees in Council with the 
fourth, and to realise for himself what a system of universal 
government and spiritual dictation stands here before us. It 
is the plenary power over the whole Church as over each 
separate member, such as the Popes have claimed for them- 


396 NOTE 23. 


selves since Gregory VII, such as is pronounced in the 
numerous Bulls since the Bull ‘“ Unam sanctam,” which is 
from henceforth to be believed and acknowledged in his life 
by every Catholic. This power is boundless, incalculable: it 
can, as Innocent III said, strike at sin everywhere; can 
punish every man, allows of no appeal, is sovereign and arbi- 
trary, for, according to Bonifacius VIII, the Pope “ carries all 
rights in the shrine of his bosom.” As he has now become 
infallible, he can in one moment, with the one little word 
“orbi” (that is, that he addresses himself to the whole 
Church), make every thesis, every doctrine, every demand, an 
unerring and irrefragable article of faith. Against him there 
can be maintained no right, no personal or corporate freedom— 
or, as the canonists say, the tribunal of God and that of the 
Pope are one and the same. This system bears its Romish 
origin on its forehead, and will never be able to penetrate in 
Germanic countries. As a Christian, as a theologian, as an 
historian, as a citizen, I cannot accept this doctrine. Not asa 
Christian, for it is irreconcilable with the spirit of the Gospel, 
and with the plain words of Christ and of the Apostles: it 
purposes just that establishment of the kingdom of this world 
which Christ rejected, it claims that rule over all communions 
which Peter forbids to all and to himself. Not as theologian 
—for the whole true tradition of the Church is in irreconcilable 
opposition to it. Not as historian can I accept it, for as such 
I know that the persistent endeavour to realise this theory of 
a kingdom of the world has cost Europe rivers of blood, has 
confounded and degraded whole countries, has shaken the 
beautiful organic architecture of the elder Church, and has 
begotten, fed, and sustained the worst abuses in the Church. 
‘Finally, as a citizen, I must put it away from me, because 
by its claims on the submission of States and monarchs, and of 
the whole political order under the Papal power, and by the 
exceptional position which it claims for the clergy, it lays the 
foundation of endless, ruinous dispute between State and 
Church, between clergy and laity. For I cannot conceal from 
myself that this doctrine, the results of which were the ruin 


NOTE 24. 397 


of the old German Kingdom, would, if governing the Catholic 

part of the German nation, at once lay the seed of incurable 

decay in the new kingdom which has just been built up ?.— 

Accept, &c., (Signed) I. VON DOLLINGER. 
‘Munich, 28 March, 1871.’ 


In the next number of Zhe Guardian (April 12, 1871) we 
read (p. 428) that, ‘in consequence of the declaration of 
Dr. Dollinger, the Archbishop of Munich has published. a 
Pastoral Letter, in which he attempts to refute him by setting 
up against him the following propositions :— 

‘i. That there was no question at all at issue, for the 
question has been decided by an Gicumenical Council regularly 
called together, assembled freely, and directed by the Head 
of the Catholic Church. 

‘2. That historical criticism cannot be placed above the 
authority of the Church. 

‘3, The assertion that the decisions of the Council are 
incompatible with the constitution of European States and 
detrimental to the German Empire is repudiated as an 
erroneous supposition, and protested against as a false ac- 
cusation.’ 

On the 18th of April, Dr. Dollinger was excommunicated. 


NOTE 24, p. 221. 


A striking example of this spirit is afforded by the following 
passage from Archbishop Bramhall, and it expresses sentiments 
with which it is very congenial to the author to close the 
present volume. 

‘No man can justly blame me for honouring my spiritual 
mother, the Church of England, in whose womb I was con- 


a ¢T have just read in the official organ of the Roman Curia and of the 
Jesuits—in the Civilta of the 18th of March, 1870, ‘‘ The Pope is chief judge of 
all civillaw. In him are combined the spiritual and worldly powers, joining 
in him as in a point, for he is the Vicegerent of Christ, who is not only the 
Eternal Priest, but also King of kings and Lord of lords;” and immediately 
following this, ‘‘The Pope is, by his high dignity, at the head of both powers.” ’ 


398 | NOTE 24 


ceived, at whose breasts I was nourished, and in whose bosom 
I hope to die. Bees, by the instinct of nature, do love their 
hives, and birds their nests. But, God is my witness, that, 
according to my uttermost talent and poor understanding, 
I have endeavoured to set down the naked truth impartially, 
without either favour or prejudice, the two capital enemies of 
right judgment. The one of which, like a false mirror, doth 
represent things fairer and straighter than they are; the 
other like the tongue infected with choler makes the sweetest 
meats to taste bitter. My desire hath been to have Truth for 
my chiefest friend, and no enemy but error. If I have had 
any bias, it hath been my desire of peace, which our common 
Saviour left as a legacy to His Church, that I might live to 
see the re-union of Christendom, for which I shall always bow 
the knees of my heart to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
It is not impossible but that this desire of unity may have 
produced some unwilling error of love, but certainly I am 
most free from the wilful love of error. In questions of an 
inferior nature, Christ regards a charitable intention much 
more than a right opinion, 

‘ Howsoever it be, I submit myself and my poor endeavours, 
first to the judgment of the Catholic Gicumenical essential 
Church, which if some of late days have endeavoured to 
hiss out of the schools as a fancy, I cannot help it. From 
the beginning it was not so. And if I should mistake the 
right Catholic Church out of human frailty or ignorance 
(which, for my part, I have no reason in the world to suspect, 
yet it is not impossible when the Romanists themselves are 
divided into five or six several opinions, what this Catholic 
Church, or what their infallible Judge is), I do implicitly and 
in the preparation of my mind submit myself to the true 
Catholic Church, the Spouse of Christ, the Mother of the 
Saints, the Pillar of Truth. And seeing my adherence is firmer 
to the Infallible Rule of Faith, that is, the Holy Scriptures 
interpreted by the Catholic Church, than to mine own private 
judgment or opinions, although I should unwittingly fall into 
an error, yet this cordial submission is an implicit retractation 


NOTE 24. 399 


thereof, and I am confident will be so accepted by the Father 
of Mercies, both from me and all others who seriously and 
sincerely do seek after peace and truth. 

_ ‘Likewise I submit myself to the Representative Church, 
that is, a free General Council, or so General as can be 
procured ; and until then to the Church of England, wherein 
I was baptized, or to a National English Synod. To the 
determination of all which, and each of these respectively, 
according to the distinct degree of their authority, I yield a 
conformity and compliance, or at the least and to the lowest 
of them, an acquiescence. —ARCHBISHOP BRAMHALL’S Works, 
fol. p. 141, or in the edition contained in the Anglo-Catholic 
Inbrary, vol. ii, p. 21. 


THE END. 


OXFORD: 
BY KE. PICKARD HALL, M.A., AND. J. Ha STAcy, 


PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 








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